It May Not Be Too Late to File a NCAA Brain Injury Lawsuit

The law recognizes that CTE and latent brain disease don't announce themselves the day a player takes his last hit. If a former college football player — or someone who loved him — is only now connecting a diagnosis to years of head trauma on the field, the statute of limitations clock may not have started yet.

Why the Standard Limitations Clock Doesn't Apply to Football Brain Injury

Most personal injury claims must be filed within one to three years of the injury. But CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and related neurological diseases don't work that way. The damage accumulates silently over years or decades. A player who retired in 1995 may not show symptoms until his mid-50s. A family may not receive a diagnosis — or understand what caused it — until years after symptoms first appeared.

 

Applying a standard limitations period to a latent injury like this would extinguish claims before a player even knew he had one. That is why courts across the country have recognized that the discovery rule governs these cases.

What the Discovery Rule Means for Your Case

Under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations for a latent brain injury claim does not begin to run until the injured person knew — or reasonably should have known — that they had suffered a compensable injury caused by another party's conduct.

 

In practical terms, this means the clock typically starts when a former player (or his family) connects the dots: the diagnosis, the history of head trauma, and the NCAA's role in failing to protect him. For many families, that moment comes years after symptoms first appeared and sometimes after a loved one has died.

 

Several factors courts consider in applying the discovery rule to football brain injury cases:

 

  • When the player or family first received a relevant medical diagnosis (CTE, dementia, ALS, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's)
  • When the player or family first had reason to associate the diagnosis with football-related head trauma
  • Whether the NCAA's concealment of known risks contributed to the delay in discovery
  • The nature and progression of the player's cognitive symptoms over time

Schmitz v. NCAA — The Ohio Supreme Court Decision That Changed Everything

In 2018, we obtained one of the most consequential appellate rulings in football brain injury litigation. In NCAA et al. v. Schmitz, the Ohio Supreme Court held that a former college football player's knowledge of in-career head injuries — the hits, the concussions, the headaches — was not sufficient to start the statute of limitations clock for a latent CTE claim.

 

The court's reasoning was straightforward: knowing you got hit in the head is not the same as knowing you have a progressive neurological disease caused by those hits. The injury that matters for limitations purposes is the latent disease, not the in-career impact. That distinction has since influenced courts in multiple states and remains one of the most cited opinions in NCAA concussion litigation nationwide.

What Surviving Family Members Need to Know

CTE can only be confirmed by post-mortem examination of brain tissue. For many families, the diagnosis comes after a loved one has already died. Wrongful death and survivor claims carry their own limitations periods, and those clocks can run independently from any claim the player himself might have brought.

 

If your husband, father, or son played college football and has since passed away — whether or not CTE was confirmed — the time to understand your legal options is now, not later. The discovery rule may extend the window, but it does not eliminate it.

Why We Evaluate Every Case on Its Own Timeline

We accept roughly one in ten cases we review. That selectivity is not about volume — it is about commitment. When we take a case, we are prepared to take it to trial. The Geathers v. NCAA verdict — $18 million returned by a South Carolina jury in October 2025 after less than two hours of deliberation — reflects what that commitment looks like when it reaches a courtroom.

 

Part of our intake process is a careful statute of limitations analysis. We look at the player's career history, the timeline of symptoms, the date and nature of any diagnosis, and the specific law of the state where the claim will be filed. If there is a viable path, we will find it. If the window has genuinely closed, we will tell you that directly.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Statute of Limitations in NCAA Brain Injury Cases

  • How long do I have to sue the NCAA for a concussion or CTE-related injury?

    There is no single answer — it depends on the state where the claim will be filed and, critically, when the discovery rule clock started running for your specific situation. In most states, the limitations period is one to three years from the date of discovery. Because CTE and related diseases are latent injuries, courts have consistently held that the clock does not start until the player or family knew or reasonably should have known about the injury and its cause. Contact us to discuss the specific facts of your case before assuming time has run out.

  • My husband played college football in the 1980s. Is it too late to file a lawsuit?

    Not necessarily. The discovery rule exists precisely for situations like this. If your husband has recently been diagnosed with CTE, dementia, ALS, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's — or if he has been experiencing symptoms that are now being connected to his football career — the limitations period may not have begun to run until recently. The Ohio Supreme Court's decision in Schmitz v. NCAA confirmed that knowledge of in-career hits alone does not start the clock for a latent brain injury claim.

  • What is the discovery rule and how does it apply to football brain injury cases?

    The discovery rule is a legal doctrine that delays the start of the statute of limitations until the injured person knew or reasonably should have known that they had a compensable injury caused by another party's conduct. In football brain injury cases, this typically means the clock starts when a former player or his family connects a neurological diagnosis to the head trauma he sustained during his playing career — not when the hits occurred, and not when the first vague symptoms appeared.

  • My father passed away and was diagnosed with CTE after death. Can we still file a lawsuit?

    Surviving family members may have both wrongful death and survival claims, and those claims carry their own limitations periods. A post-mortem CTE diagnosis is significant evidence, and the discovery rule may apply to the family's claims based on when they received that diagnosis and understood its cause. These cases are time-sensitive, and the analysis is fact-specific. We encourage families in this situation to contact us as soon as possible.

  • Is it too late to file a CTE lawsuit if the player never received a formal diagnosis during his lifetime?

    A formal CTE diagnosis is not always required to pursue a claim, particularly where a player exhibited clear symptoms consistent with CTE or a related neurological condition. Courts have allowed claims to proceed based on clinical evidence of neurological decline tied to a history of repetitive head trauma. The limitations analysis in these cases focuses on when the player or family had enough information to connect the symptoms to football-related injury — and that question requires a careful, case-by-case review.