NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has been ordered by U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson to "offer testimony in the concussions lawsuit filed by 60 former players against the league," according to Rick Westhead of TSN.ca. Nelson late yesterday ordered Bettman to "testify in July on matters related to the high-stakes litigation." She wrote, "Commissioner Bettman may be deposed in July 2015, but no earlier. This should cause no hardship to plaintiffs." Westhead noted Nelson "included in her ruling excerpts of seven media interviews Bettman gave between 1993 and 2015 that show his particular insights into how the league has responded to head injuries." The former NHL players filed the suit in November '13 after a group of "nearly 4,500 former NFL players reached a settlement with the NFL over similar concussion-related complaints." The hockey lawsuit "has not been certified as a class action." If a judge "does grant the case class-action status, which some lawyers say is uncertain, the case could involve several thousand former NHL players, unless they opt out of the case." The league has "written in court filings that it may call current and former NHL team player reps to testify in the lawsuit, as well as the agents of current and former players" (TSN.ca, 5/5).
