Boogaard v. National Hockey League

255 F. Supp. 3d 753, 2017 WL 2424152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85338
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 5, 2017
Docket13 C 4846
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 255 F. Supp. 3d 753 (Boogaard v. National Hockey League) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boogaard v. National Hockey League, 255 F. Supp. 3d 753, 2017 WL 2424152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85338 (N.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion and Order

Gary Feinerman, United States District Judge

Len and Joanne Boogaard, the personal representatives of the estate of Derek Boogaard, bring this suit against the National Hockey League and its Board of Governors and Commissioner (collectively, “NHL”), alleging tort claims connected with Boogaard’s death. Docs. 1-1, 62, 174. (For ease of reference, and except where context requires otherwise, the court will refer to Plaintiffs as “Boogaard.”) As matters now stand, Counts V-XII of the second amended complaint have been dismissed, and Counts I-IV remain in the case. Docs. 168-169, 174. The NHL has moved to dismiss the remaining claims, Doc. 177, while Boogaard has moved to remand the case to state court, Doc 182. The NHL’s motion is granted, and Boo-gaard’s motion is denied.

Background

The previous personal representative of Boogaard’s estate, Robert Nelson, filed this suit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. Doc. 1-1. The NHL removed the case to this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1441 on the ground that the original complaint’s claims, which purportedly rested on state law, were completely preempted by § 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“LMRA”), 29 U.S.C. § 185, and thus in fact were federal claims. Doc. 1; see Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams, 482 U.S. 386, 393, 107 S.Ct. 2425, 96 L.Ed.2d 318 (1987). The court denied Boo-gaard’s motion to remand, holding that at least some of his claims were completely preempted. Docs. 37-38 (reported at 20 F.Supp.3d 650 (N.D. Ill. 2014)). Boogaard then filed an amended complaint, which set forth eight counts. Doc. 62. After discovery, the court granted summary judgment to the NHL on all eight counts, holding that they were completely preempted by § 301 of the LMRA and that the § 301 claims — which is how the preempted claims had to be characterized — were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Docs. 140-141 (reported at 126 F.Supp.3d 1010 (N.D. Ill. 2015)).

Boogaard moved for leave to file a second amended complaint, which set forth twelve counts. Docs. 135, 143. The NHL opposed that motion on the ground that the second amended complaint’s claims, like those of the first amended complaint, were completely preempted by § 301 of the LMRA and, as § 301 claims, were [757]*757time-barred. Docs. 151-152. The court granted in part and denied in part the motion for leave to amend. Docs. 168-169 (reported at 211 F.Supp.3d 1107 (N.D. Ill. 2016)). Specifically, the court held that eight of the second amended -complaint’s counts, Counts V-XIÍ, were “essentially identical to the first amended complaint’s eight counts ... and are therefore completely preempted and time-barred for the reasons set forth in the court’s earlier opinions.” 211 F.Supp.3d at 1111. But the court held that portions of the other four counts, Counts I-IV, stated non-preempted — and thus true state law — claims. Ibid. Accordingly, the court dismissed with prejudice Counts V-XII and the completely preempted portions of Counts I-IV; ordered the NHL to answer or otherwise plead to the surviving portions of the complaint; and stated that if the NHL “move[s] to dismiss any of the surviving claims, [it] should not do so on preemption grounds.” Doc. 168.

Now before the court are the NHL’s motion to dismiss the second amended complaint’s surviving claims, Doc. 177, and Boogaard’s motion to remand the case to state court, Doc. 182.

Discussion

I. The NHL’s Motion to Dismiss

In moving to dismiss, the NHL contends that the second amended complaint’s state law claims — the NHL actually continues to argue that Counts I-IV include no true state law claims, Doc. 178 at 11-17, but proceeds to assume for the sake of argument that they do — are governed and defeated by Minnesota law. Id. at 18-27. The NHL argues in the alternative that, regardless of which State’s law applies, Boo-gaard has no viable claim. Id. at 27-40.

In resolving the NHL’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the court assumes the truth of the operative complaint’s well-pleaded factual allegations, though not its legal conclusions. See Zahn v. N. Am. Power & Gas, LLC, 815 F.3d 1082, 1087 (7th Cir. 2016). The court must also consider “documents attached to the complaint, documents that are critical to the complaint and referred to in it, and information that is subject to proper judicial notice,” along with additional facts set forth in Boogaard’s brief opposing dismissal,' so long as those additional facts “are consistent with the pleadings.” Phillips v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 714 F.3d 1017, 1019-20 (7th Cir. 2013). The facts are set forth as favorably to Boogaard as those materials allow. See Pierce v. Zoetis, Inc., 818 F.3d 274, 277 (7th Cir. 2016). In setting forth those facts at the pleading stage, the court does not vouch for their accuracy. See Jay E. Hayden Found. v. First Neighbor Bank, N.A., 610 F.3d 382, 384 (7th Cir. 2010).

Boogaard played hockey for the NHL for six years — five for the Minnesota Wild, and one for the New York Rangers. Doc. 174 at ¶¶ 2, 11. As an “Enforcer/Fighter,” Boogaard’s principal job during games was to fight opposing players. Id. at ¶¶ 2-3. As a result of the fights, he suffered brain injuries, which eventually developed into chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or “CTE,” a brain disorder characterized by deteriorating judgment, inhibition, mood, reasoning,. behavior, and impulse control. Id. at ¶¶ 4-7. Boogaard routinely suffered other painful injuries as well, and team doctors treated his symptoms with opioids, a class of highly addictive pain medications. Id. at ¶¶ 4, 119-122, 127-137. Boo-gaard became addicted to opioids, went to rehab, relapsed, and returned to rehab. Id. at ¶¶ 138, 140, 156-160. In May 2011, while on weekend.release in Minnesota from his second stay in rehab, he accidentally overdosed on Percocet and died. Id. at ¶¶ 164-165, 206. He was 28 years old. Id. at ¶ 1.

Counts T-II — a survival claim and wrongful death claim, respectively — rest on the following allegations. During Boo-gaard’s career, the NHL cultivated a “cul[758]*758ture of gratuitous violence,” which caused him to get into fights, which in turn caused him to develop CTE and become addicted to opioids, which in turn caused his death. Id. at ¶¶ 44, 75, 7& The NHL encouraged violence by, among other things, promoting an HBO documentary glorifying the “Broad Street Bullies,” a Philadelphia Flyers team known for fighting; creating promotional films “that focus on the hardest hits that take place on the ice”; displaying on its website stories about enforcers and on-ice fights “on a nightly basis”; producing on an affiliated television network- “a weekly program segment called ‘Top 10 Hits of the Week’”; and sponsoring video games that '“include[ed] fighting and vicious body checking.” Id. at ¶ 57.

Counts III-IV — also a- survival claim and wrongful death claim, respectively— allege that the NHL actively and unreasonably harmed Boogaard by implicitly communicating that head trauma is not dangerous.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
255 F. Supp. 3d 753, 2017 WL 2424152, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boogaard-v-national-hockey-league-ilnd-2017.