Wisconsin mother suing Pop Warner for $5 million

The mother of a Wisconsin man who died in 2012 is suing Pop Warner, arguing the brain damage suffered by her son while playing football contributed to his death.

The woman’s son was 25 when he hanged himself. According to the lawsuit, he suffered from a degenerative brain disease that was a result playing four season of Pop Warner football, beginning when he was 11 years old.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 million from Pop Warner and its insurance company, according to The Associated Press.

This is not the first time someone has filed a lawsuit over brain injuries suffered while playing sports. In November, a former high school quarterback in Illinois filed a class-action suit against the state athletic association, claiming it didn’t do enough to protect him and others from concussions.

We’ll see more of these lawsuits as we learn about the residual effects of concussions and other head injuries, especially CTE. We haven’t yet seen a lawsuit argued in court that can be viewed as precedent in situations like this.