The family of former NHL defenseman Steve Montador, who passed away in February, is planning on filing a lawsuit against the NHL, according to a report from ESPN.
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William Gibbs, of Chicago-based Corboy & Demetrio, confirmed to ESPN.com on Tuesday morning that the firm will be filing a suit against the league on behalf of Montador’s estate. Montador passed away in February 2015 at age 35.
“The Montador family’s suspicions have been confirmed: Steve Montador’s 35-year-old brain was decaying due to the head hits he endured during his NHL career,” Gibbs said in a statement. “CTE has afflicted yet another young athlete and his family.
“It is heartbreaking that such a vibrant young man sustained such monumental brain damage while playing a professional sport.”
Gibbs is the same lawyer that represented Derek Boogaard’s family when it filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the NHL in 2013. The Boogaard family had previously filed against the NHLPA -- through a different lawyer -- but that suit was dismissed just prior to filing against the league.
Shortly after Montador’s passing, the Chicago Tribune reported that, in the month before he died, Montador had planned to sue the NHL over his concussions (with Gibbs as his lawyer.)
Related: Carcillo talks Montador’s ‘trying times,’ questions NHLPA’s exit program