Robert Wilonsky of The Dallas Morning News is reporting that the family of the late Matt Osborne, known to wrestling fans as Doink the Clown, filed a lawsuit on Friday in the Dallas federal court against Vince McMahon and WWE.
The lawsuit claims that Osborne’s wrestling career led to “traumatic brain injuries” that resulted in “depression and drug abuse, which ultimately resulted in his untimely death” back in June of 2013. The lawsuit noted that Osborne was one of many former talents experiencing the same brain injuries listing members of the Von Erich family.
The lawsuit added, “When forced to acknowledge the risks to which it subjects its wrestlers — by script, on a daily basis — WWE took inadequate steps to correct the problem or to address its injurious conduct, the full consequences of which are still coming to light. Indeed, WWE continues a course of conduct designed to mislead its wrestlers, and designed to mislead Matthew Osborne until his death, about the injuries they sustained while wrestling for WWE by failing to disclose pertinent facts or offering misleading truths.”
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt responded to the filing of the lawsuit on Friday describing it as one in a long line of legal filings aimed at “drumming up people…looking for NFL money.” McDevitt continued, “And they don’t have any merit. They’re all different from the NFL. We never had anyone claim they had these kinds of injuries until [these attorneys] did it. They find the destitute, people who have no money, and told them there’s money to be made. That’s what is going on. … And I feel bad for these families, because they think they’ll make money off of this, and they’re not.”
You can read the full article at the link below.