Bauer Nike Helmet Lawsuit

Bauer Nike Sued for Brain Injury

Helmet's capacity to protect against head injuries questioned

Bauer Nike and the CSA national safety standards agency are being sued by a Victoria family whose son suffered a severe brain injury during a midget hockey game.

Sucha and Cindy More allege the Bauer Nike helmet their son Darren, then 17, was wearing should have protected him against his injury and are seeking $10 million in damages to help care for him.

'He will have to be supervised until the day he dies.'— Lawyer James Macaulay

Darren was hip-checked and flew into the boards during a game in nearby Esquimalt in 2004. He struck the back of his head and fell into a six-week coma. The Mores's lawyer, James Macaulay, says six years later Darren still suffers from physical and emotional disabilities and needs 24-hour supervision.

"He has emotional problems, he has physical problems … He will have to be supervised until the day he dies," Macaulay said.

Safety standards too low

"The helmet was intended to protect against impacts of the kind Darren More suffered. It didn't," Macaulay said. "It failed, and one of the reasons is that it was never tested to a standard that was rigorous enough to protect people like More from that kind of serious head injury."

The Canadian Standards Association has also been named in the lawsuit because the standards administered by the CSA were to low, Macaulay said.

"If you have a low standard, helmets have a lesser capacity to protect against serious head injuries," Macaulay said.

Bauer knew about the lax CSA testing, Macaulay alleges, and is therefore complicit.

"They were very much a part of the committee that decides standards," he said.

Source: CBC.ca
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