Former NFL Player’s $43.5 Million Score in Medical Malpractice Case Upheld

A Philadelphia appeals court has upheld the $43.5 award to former Philadelphia Eagles’ special teams player and captain Chris Maragos in his medical malpractice claim alleging that failed treatment of a knee injury ended his National Football League (NFL) career in 2018.

In August 3023, a Court of Common Please jury found that sports medicine surgeon Dr. James Bradley and rehabilitation institute Rothman Orthopaedics Associates (ROA) were negligent in their medical treatment and thus responsible for the premature end of Maragos’ professional football career and his lifelong disability.

During an October 12, 2017 game against the Carolina Panthers, Maragos suffered a meniscus tear in his right knee. In 2018, Maragos sued for medical malpractice, alleging that Bradley and ROA failed to properly treat the tear in an initial surgery and also mismanaged his post-operative rehabilitation in a way that caused further damage. He says he continues to suffer pain and disability as a result of the improper repair and rehab of his knee injury.

A Court of Common Pleas jury trial was held over two weeks from the end of January 2022 through mid-February 2023. During the trial, the jury heard testimony from key experts in orthopedic medicine, as well as Maragos’ former teammates. Medical experts for Maragos testified that the meniscus tear should have been surgically repaired in the initial surgery and that no rehabilitation should have occurred until the meniscus repaired.

Following trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Maragos in the amount of $43.5 million, apportioning liability at 67% for Bradley and 33% for ROA.

ROA appealed the verdict as not supported by the evidence and asked for a new trial. But Court of Common Pleas Justice Charles J. Cunningham, III, backed the jury and rejected the appeals, finding that the medical testimony that the jury accepted as true supported the verdict.

ROA again appealed and last week the Superior Court of Pennsylvania agreed with the Court of Common Pleas in upholding the award and denying a new trial.

Maragos signed a three-year/$4 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2014. His contract was extended in 2016 for three years/$6 million. He was, at that time, the highest paid special teams player in the NFL.

In assessing the amount of the award, Justice Cunningham wrote that while $43.5 million is a “large amount of money…it does not shock the conscience” given that the plaintiff was a professional football player at the highest level. ROA had complained that the award was more than four times the $9 million in economic damages Maragos suffered under his contract at the time of his injury.

But the judge noted that “there is no bright-line rule” that prohibits such a ratio or even a larger ratio and that the award includes a “reasonable projection” for a future contract had Maragos continued to play which he intended to do.

“Plaintiff not only lost his job, he lost his dream,” Justice Cunningham wrote, noting that Maragos was the highest paid special teamer in the NFL and there was no indication that his abilities were in decline. “Putting a price tag on a dream is not an easy task. In the instant case, the jury considered the evidence presented to reach their verdict and it does not shock the conscience where Plaintiff went from a dream job in the NFL to a lifetime of pain and disability resulting from the improper repair and rehab of his knee injury.”

The Superior Court agreed, attaching a copy of Cunningham’s ruling to its own.