Connecticut Court Officially Closes Concussion Related Lawsuits Brought Against WWE

For the past several years, WWE has been battling concussion-related lawsuits brought against them by former stars such as Vito “Big Vito” LoGrasso, Ken Patera, Joe Laurinaitis (aka Animal of Legion of Doom), Paul Orndorff, the estate of the late Jimmy Snuka and more.

In a judgment issued to PWInsider, The United States District Court of Connecticut officially closed the lawsuits, and below is an excerpt of the final ruling:

“It is therefore ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that declaratory judgment is entered in favor of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. as to Ware and Billington; that judgment is entered for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. as to Evan Singleton and Vito LoGrasso; and judgment is entered for World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. and Vincent K. McMahon as to Joseph M. Laurinaitis, Carole M. Snuka on behalf of Estate of James W. Snuka, Paul Orndorff, Salavador Guerrero IV, Kelli Fujiwara Sloan on behalf of Estate of Harry Masayoshi Fujiwara, Bryan Emmett Clark, Jr., Anthony Norris, James Harris, Dave Hebner, Earl Hebner, Chris Pallies, Ken Patera, Terry Michael Brunk, Barry Darsow, Bill Eadie, John Nord, Jonathan Hugger, James Brunzell, Susan Green, Angelo Mosca, James Manley, Michael “Mike” Enos, Bruce “Butch” Reed, Carlene B. Moore-Begnaud, Sylvain Grenier, Omar Mijares, Don Leo Heaton, Troy Martin, Marc Copani, Mark Canterbury, Victoria Otis, Judy Hardee, Mark Jindrak, Gayle Schecter on behalf of Estate of Jon Rechner, Barbara Marie Leydig & Bernard Knighton as co-representatives of Estate of Brian Knighton, Marty Jannetty, Jon Heidenreich, Terry Szopinski, Sione Havea Vailahi, Larry Oliver, Bobbi Billard, Ashley Massaro, Perry Satullo, David Silva, John Jeter, Charles Bernard Scaggs, Charles Wicks, Shirley Fellows on behalf of Estate of Timothy Alan Smith, Tracy Smothers, Michael R Halac, Rick Jones, Ken Johnson, George Gray, Ferrin Jesse Barr, Lou Marconi, Rod Price, Donald Driggers, Rodney Begnaud, Ronald Scott Heard on behalf of Estate of Ronald Heard, and Boris Zhukov.”

Despite the lawsuits officially being closed, however, Konstantine Kyros, the attorney who represented the professional wrestlers suing WWE, has claimed he will be appealing the decision.

Meanwhile, Jerry McDevitt, who acted as the lead attorney for WWE, has not only taken issue with the lawsuits themselves but of Kyros’ behavior during litigation, even going so far as to demand Kyros be disbarred. McDevitt issued the following statement to PWInsider back in September.

“This is the same kind of drivel Kyros pawned off on former wrestlers when soliciting them to sue WWE by false statements that he had obtained a billion dollar settlement for NFL players and would do the same for wrestlers, when in fact he had absolutely nothing to do with getting that settlement. He was caught repeatedly making false allegations; has been admonished repeatedly by federal judges about his dishonest behavior; and has now been subjected to two different sanction orders of the kind that would make most lawyers embarrassed and ashamed. The rant he sent you now insults the federal judge who issued the decision, and he still fails to address the basis of her opinion. He may well have been able to mislead those he solicited to join his lawsuits, but he will never succeed in misleading us or federal judges. Frankly, he should be disbarred.”