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The Rams are long gone, but St. Louis could still be on the hook for player's 2015 injury
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_151f2e69-4e27-531f-bd19-df1a8f8c7641.html
San Francisco 49ers running back Reggie Bush is carted off the field after being injured on a punt return in first quarter action during a game against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis n Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Rams are long gone, but St. Louis taxpayers could still be on the hook for a former NFL running back's 2015 injury at former Edward Jones Dome.
"You can see, it's like all of a sudden he's running on an ice rink," Bush's lawyer Tim Cronin told jurors in opening statements Tuesday as he played video of the injury in the courtroom. "Whatever risks a football player assumes, concrete 11 yards outside the sidelines is not one of them."
Bush, who played for the San Francisco 49ers at the time he was injured, sued the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission in January 2016. Both are public entities. The Rams were added as a defendant about two weeks after Bush filed suit.
His lawsuit claimed Edward Jones Dome’s owners and operators were negligent by allowing “a dangerous condition to exist at the Dome.” Bush's suit doesn't put a price tag on the injury, but says he seeks at least $25,000 in damages.
He slipped and fell in a Nov. 1, 2015, game against the St. Louis Rams after being pushed out of bounds while returning a punt in the first quarter. Bush’s cleats apparently slipped on a concrete surface about 11 yards behind the 49ers bench. The suit says the exposed concrete area had been nicknamed the “concrete ring of death.”
Bush tore the lateral meniscus of his left knee, sidelining him for the rest of the 2015 season.
Two weeks after Bush was injured, the Dome covered the concrete surface with rubber padding, his suit claimed.
A CVC statement from the time said the dome had installed a "non-slip rubber surface on all exposed concrete portions of the dome floor for football games."
Bush’s fall followed a similar incident at the Dome on Oct. 25, 2015. Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown slid into a wall, injuring his shoulder.
After Bush’s fall, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said “there have been hundreds of games here and they haven’t had any issues with it.” He said the team had discussed the issue with the NFL.
That was the final season for the Rams in St. Louis. Owner Stan Kroenke moved the team to Los Angeles the following season.
The former Edward Jones Dome is now officially known as the Dome at America's Center.
After sitting out the rest of the 2015 season, Bush signed with Buffalo for the following season. He announced his retirement last year.
Before his season with the Bills, his 11th in the NFL, Bush said at a news conference in Rochester, N.Y., that his surgically repaired knee was 100 percent and that he was eager to get back on the field.
“I’m in shape. I’m full strength. I’m ready to go,” Bush said at the time.
Assigning blame
Bush, who lives in Los Angeles, sat in the courtroom galley during opening statements Tuesday wearing a black suit, white shirt and black-and-white patterned tie.
His attorney told jurors Bush got hurt shortly after becoming the starting running back for the 49ers. Cronin said Bush's knee injury prevented Bush from getting a more lucrative deal as a free agent.
"He would have gotten a much better contract if he hadn't suffered a season-ending knee injury," Cronin said.
Cronin told jurors the case makes two negligence claims against the owners and operaters of the dome: that they knew they should have covered the concrete with a non-slip surface before Bush got hurt and that they failed to warn Bush of the exposed, unsafe surface.
For their part, the Rams as the dome's main tenant for two decades, "should have done something to make Reggie and other players safer during games," Cronin said. "They knew the risks. They knew about this completely unnecessary danger — how could they not — and now somebody has to pay the price for it."
Debbie Champion represents the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. She told jurors the Rams, whom she called "the football experts," controlled the dome during home games, not her clients. She said Bush's injury happened "during the normal course of a football game."
The dome, she said, was used as a multipurpose facility for events other than football throughout the year, explaining that the RSA and CVC took direction from the NFL when it came to field specifications. She said no one complained about the field's safety for 20 years of football at the Edward Jones Dome until Bush got hurt.
"Nothing on that turf was done without the NFL approving even the smallest mark," she said. "At noon on gameday, the NFL takes over everything. On the day of the game, they are in charge. If they want to cover the concrete, they are in charge."
The NFL is not a defendant in the lawsuit, but the Rams are.
Champion said Bush had a long and successful NFL career but that he got hurt at a point when a player's age and declining production become realities of the game. She said Bush will testify that his knee had fully recovered when he went to play for the Bills. Bush was 31 at the time.
"Reggie Bush did not want to quit," Champion said. "Mr. Bush wants millions of dollars because he thought he could play as a running back for more years."
Champion said a 49ers trainer will testify that Bush told him he heard a pop in his knee before skidding on the concrete, suggesting that perhaps the injury was the result of two previous injuries to the same knee.
Rams lawyer Daniel Allmayer said the Rams took steps to ensure the safety of its players including installing carpet runners in the tunnels between the locker rooms and turf field. Allmayer said that after Bush got hurt, Rams Operations Director Bruck Warwick immediately contacted the CVC about covering the exposed concrete.
"Mr. Warwick had to get the authority of the CVC if he wanted to change it or move things because it was their stadium — their area," Allmayer said.
The trial before St. Louis Associate Circuit Judge Calea Stovall-Reid is expected to last more than a week.
Former professional football player Reggie Bush leaves the Civil Court building in St. Louis on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. He is seeking damages after he says he was injured while playing at the then-Edward Jones Dome in 2015. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_151f2e69-4e27-531f-bd19-df1a8f8c7641.html
- By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- 53 min ago
San Francisco 49ers running back Reggie Bush is carted off the field after being injured on a punt return in first quarter action during a game against the St. Louis Rams at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis n Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015. Photo by Chris Lee, clee@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS • The St. Louis Rams are long gone, but St. Louis taxpayers could still be on the hook for a former NFL running back's 2015 injury at former Edward Jones Dome.
"You can see, it's like all of a sudden he's running on an ice rink," Bush's lawyer Tim Cronin told jurors in opening statements Tuesday as he played video of the injury in the courtroom. "Whatever risks a football player assumes, concrete 11 yards outside the sidelines is not one of them."
Bush, who played for the San Francisco 49ers at the time he was injured, sued the St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission in January 2016. Both are public entities. The Rams were added as a defendant about two weeks after Bush filed suit.
His lawsuit claimed Edward Jones Dome’s owners and operators were negligent by allowing “a dangerous condition to exist at the Dome.” Bush's suit doesn't put a price tag on the injury, but says he seeks at least $25,000 in damages.
He slipped and fell in a Nov. 1, 2015, game against the St. Louis Rams after being pushed out of bounds while returning a punt in the first quarter. Bush’s cleats apparently slipped on a concrete surface about 11 yards behind the 49ers bench. The suit says the exposed concrete area had been nicknamed the “concrete ring of death.”
Bush tore the lateral meniscus of his left knee, sidelining him for the rest of the 2015 season.
Two weeks after Bush was injured, the Dome covered the concrete surface with rubber padding, his suit claimed.
A CVC statement from the time said the dome had installed a "non-slip rubber surface on all exposed concrete portions of the dome floor for football games."
Bush’s fall followed a similar incident at the Dome on Oct. 25, 2015. Cleveland Browns quarterback Josh McCown slid into a wall, injuring his shoulder.
After Bush’s fall, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said “there have been hundreds of games here and they haven’t had any issues with it.” He said the team had discussed the issue with the NFL.
That was the final season for the Rams in St. Louis. Owner Stan Kroenke moved the team to Los Angeles the following season.
The former Edward Jones Dome is now officially known as the Dome at America's Center.
After sitting out the rest of the 2015 season, Bush signed with Buffalo for the following season. He announced his retirement last year.
Before his season with the Bills, his 11th in the NFL, Bush said at a news conference in Rochester, N.Y., that his surgically repaired knee was 100 percent and that he was eager to get back on the field.
“I’m in shape. I’m full strength. I’m ready to go,” Bush said at the time.
Assigning blame
Bush, who lives in Los Angeles, sat in the courtroom galley during opening statements Tuesday wearing a black suit, white shirt and black-and-white patterned tie.
His attorney told jurors Bush got hurt shortly after becoming the starting running back for the 49ers. Cronin said Bush's knee injury prevented Bush from getting a more lucrative deal as a free agent.
"He would have gotten a much better contract if he hadn't suffered a season-ending knee injury," Cronin said.
Cronin told jurors the case makes two negligence claims against the owners and operaters of the dome: that they knew they should have covered the concrete with a non-slip surface before Bush got hurt and that they failed to warn Bush of the exposed, unsafe surface.
For their part, the Rams as the dome's main tenant for two decades, "should have done something to make Reggie and other players safer during games," Cronin said. "They knew the risks. They knew about this completely unnecessary danger — how could they not — and now somebody has to pay the price for it."
Debbie Champion represents the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority and the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. She told jurors the Rams, whom she called "the football experts," controlled the dome during home games, not her clients. She said Bush's injury happened "during the normal course of a football game."
The dome, she said, was used as a multipurpose facility for events other than football throughout the year, explaining that the RSA and CVC took direction from the NFL when it came to field specifications. She said no one complained about the field's safety for 20 years of football at the Edward Jones Dome until Bush got hurt.
"Nothing on that turf was done without the NFL approving even the smallest mark," she said. "At noon on gameday, the NFL takes over everything. On the day of the game, they are in charge. If they want to cover the concrete, they are in charge."
The NFL is not a defendant in the lawsuit, but the Rams are.
Champion said Bush had a long and successful NFL career but that he got hurt at a point when a player's age and declining production become realities of the game. She said Bush will testify that his knee had fully recovered when he went to play for the Bills. Bush was 31 at the time.
"Reggie Bush did not want to quit," Champion said. "Mr. Bush wants millions of dollars because he thought he could play as a running back for more years."
Champion said a 49ers trainer will testify that Bush told him he heard a pop in his knee before skidding on the concrete, suggesting that perhaps the injury was the result of two previous injuries to the same knee.
Rams lawyer Daniel Allmayer said the Rams took steps to ensure the safety of its players including installing carpet runners in the tunnels between the locker rooms and turf field. Allmayer said that after Bush got hurt, Rams Operations Director Bruck Warwick immediately contacted the CVC about covering the exposed concrete.
"Mr. Warwick had to get the authority of the CVC if he wanted to change it or move things because it was their stadium — their area," Allmayer said.
The trial before St. Louis Associate Circuit Judge Calea Stovall-Reid is expected to last more than a week.
Former professional football player Reggie Bush leaves the Civil Court building in St. Louis on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. He is seeking damages after he says he was injured while playing at the then-Edward Jones Dome in 2015. Photo by J.B. Forbes, jforbes@post-dispatch.com
