Hundreds of rugby brain injury claims can proceed to trial, judge rules

Callum Parke, Press Association Law Reporter

Hundreds of High Court claims against rugby’s governing bodies from players who allege they suffered brain injuries during their careers can continue to trial, a judge has ruled.

World Rugby, Welsh Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, the Rugby Football League, and the British Amateur Rugby League Association told a hearing last month that about 500 claims should be thrown out before trial for their lawyers’ failure to comply with court orders.

The cases are part of a larger group filed by a mix of professional and amateur players, who claim the bodies breached a duty of care to protect them from injury.

Their lawyers say they have suffered neurological injuries such as early-onset dementia, Parkinson’s, epilepsy and motor neurone disease, because of repeated blows suffered throughout their sporting lives.

They argue that the governing bodies had the knowledge and resources to understand the likelihood of brain damage, but did not take steps against this or inform the players.

Each of the governing bodies denies wrongdoing and is defending the claims, but the players’ lawyers told last month’s hearing that throwing out the cases before a trial would be an “extreme response”.

In a ruling on Friday, Judge David Cook said that while he would have thrown out the claims, he decided “with some hesitation” that they should proceed to trial, subject to “conditions” to be decided at a further hearing.

He continued that there were “exceptional circumstances” in the case and that it had a “particular element of public importance going beyond the individual claims”.

He said: “This litigation has the potential to greatly impact the way in which one of our national sports is conducted at amateur and professional levels.

“I of course recognise the countervailing public interest that litigation should be conducted efficiently.”

He continued: “I recognise the delay and unnecessary expense caused to date, but this delay can be remedied going forward by tight case management and the unnecessary expense can be compensated in costs.”

The judge continued that the players have also become represented by a new law firm, KP Law, and that had the players been represented by their previous lawyers, he “could not have had any confidence that future court orders would be complied with timeously or at all”.

But he said that the breaches of court orders were not caused by the players themselves, adding: “Given the vulnerability of many of these claimants, it might be said that they should not be punished for the sins of their legal representative.”

In 2024, lawyers for the players were told to disclose medical reports and documents, including neuropsychological assessments and brain scans for the players, to the governing bodies.

In July last year, the High Court issued further orders related to the disclosure of documents, meaning the claims could be thrown out if not followed.

The players then lost an appeal against the July 2025 order, with a High Court judge saying that it was issued after a “serious erosion of the confidence the court could safely place in the way the disclosure process had been conducted”.

But lawyers for the governing bodies said that the 2024 orders had still not been complied with in several cases, meaning that about 500 cases across both rugby league and rugby union should be dismissed before a trial.

Non-compliance

William Audland KC, for the rugby league bodies, said in written submissions that non-compliance with court orders was “systemic and without good reason”.

But Susan Rodway KC, for the players, told the court in written submissions that the breaches were “neither serious nor significant” given the “context of this complex and documentarily voluminous litigation”.

She also said that the change in law firm meant there would be a “completely different regime going forward in which both the court and the defendants can have full confidence”.

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