$1.75 Million Judgment for Former Field Hockey Player Whose Concussion an Army Doctor Misdiagnosed

On September 23, 2011, Jennifer Bradley, a player on the American University field hockey team, was struck in the head by an opposing player's shoulder during a game in Richmond, Virginia. She felt strange and confused afterward. She kept practicing and playing, including games on September 25, October 1 and October 2.

On October 5, 2011, the team arranged for her to see Dr. Aaron Williams, an Army physician completing a sports medicine fellowship who worked with the university's team physician. Dr. Williams documented a headache, dizziness, light and noise sensitivity, trouble concentrating and fatigue. He nonetheless attributed her condition to inflamed sinuses, ruled out a concussion, and did not take her out of practice or games. She continued to play for the rest of the fall season.

Bradley later developed post-concussion syndrome. The spring 2012 semester was a struggle: she testified that reading and concentrating were so hard she needed breaks every 30 minutes. At trial the court credited her account of continuing headaches, fatigue, vision problems and slowed mental processing, along with depression and anxiety treated with prescription medication. Her parents described a daily life in which she could no longer manage routine tasks or errands.

Bradley sued under the Federal Tort Claims Act because Dr. Williams was a federal employee. Her claims against the NCAA and American University were dismissed in May 2020. The claim against the United States went to a bench trial before Judge Reggie B. Walton in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which ran from September 9 to September 14, 2021. Bradley was represented by Barry J. Nace and Matthew A. Nace of the Washington firm Paulson & Nace PLLC, now Nace Law Group.

In a 76-page opinion issued July 28, 2022, Judge Walton found that Dr. Williams breached the standard of care by failing to diagnose the concussion and remove her from play, and that this made her symptoms worse than they otherwise would have been. He awarded $1,037,047 in economic damages for lost earning capacity and $800,000 in non-economic damages, then reduced the total by five percent because of a second concussion she suffered in April 2013. The judgment was $1,745,194.65.

The government noticed an appeal on September 23, 2022, challenging the judgment, and Bradley appealed the dismissals of the NCAA and the university. On November 15, 2023, the D.C. Circuit granted unopposed motions to voluntarily dismiss both appeals, leaving the judgment in place.