Judge denies Bucs’ motion to dismiss Lawrence Tynes’s MRSA lawsuit
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a motion Monday to dismiss former kicker Lawrence Tynes’s $20 million lawsuit over a MRSA infection he contracted in 2013, reportsThe Tampa Tribune’s Roy Cummings.
Tynes claimed his career was ended by the infection he contracted at Tampa Bay’s facility, which he says was not properly cleaned. Tynes’s former teammates Carl Nicks and Jonathan Banks were also treated for MRSA that season.
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In the motion, the Bucs said Tynes’s claims were covered under the league’s collective bargaining agreement, and “barred by Florida law, which provides that workers’ compensation benefits are the exclusive remedy for the injuries alleged, which were incurred, if at all, during the course and scope of Tynes’s employment.”
Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge Mark Wolfe ruled, however, that Tynes’s assertions “are not within the scope of the CBA and the NFL Player Contract . . . but pertain to general common law duties professionals and owners or lessees of commercial premises owe to invitees, third parties and the pubic.”
In September, another judge denied Tampa Bay’s request to have the case heard in federal court.
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Tynes signed with the Buccaneers in July 2013, but never kicked for the team, landing on the non-football injury list. Over his 10-year NFL career, Tynes made 190 of 233 field-goal attempts with the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants, winning two Super Bowls with the latter.
