WWE has issued a legal response to the class action lawsuit filed against the promotion by former WWE Superstar Billy Jack Haynes. The response was filed on March 31 in the United States District Court in Portland, Oregon. WWE has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.
The response notes that Haynes started his lawsuit 26 years after he last worked for the WWE and said that his suit is “time -barred and substantively deficient.” In addition, the response notes that Haynes failed to file his lawsuit in its required time limit, and they reportedly informed his attorney of that. This led to a new, amended pleading filed that includes a medical malpractice claim. WWE is saying that claim is also time-barred.
The response also describes how Haynes changed his accusations of suffering 15 concussions with WWF in the 1980s to an “unspecified” amount of concussions and said that Haynes’ recent filing “does not squarely allege the number of concussions he sustained during his stint with WWE, if any.”
The response reads:
“The thrust of Haynes’ lawsuit is that WWE concealed from him, in ways never explained, the medical science regarding the risks of repetitive head trauma which he at the same time admits have long been known. Haynes offers no explanation for the staleness of his claim. He pleads no diligence on his part for the last two and one -half decades. Instead, Haynes makes the conclusory allegation that his injuries were not detectable until manifestation and that he was unable to discover his injuries until being diagnosed. Haynes does not allege when he was diagnosed with depression or dementia, or even that he has been so diagnosed. He does not plead the date he finally discovered his injuries or his claims. Realizing the staleness of his lawsuit, Haynes offers one conclusory sentence seeking to estop WWE from invoking obviously applicable limitations– that WWE “knew that the Plaintiff and Class were suffering concussions during and prior to their careers and concealed that materials [sic] information from Plaintiff and all WWE wrestlers.”
WWE has also requested that if the lawsuit is not dismissed, the lawsuit should be moved to the United States District of Connecticut because none of Haynes’ claims against the company are based in Oregon beyond Haynes being a resident of the state. The response adds that Oregon does not have much in the way of a “substantative connection” with the legal dispute.
The hearing is set for June 30 at 9:30AM to discuss WWE’s request to dismiss the lawsuit and a potential change in venue for the legal matter.
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