Lawyers for the estate of former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez on Friday dropped a concussion-related lawsuit that they recently brought against the team and the National Football League but said they plan to re-file the case in another jurisdiction.
Attorneys for the estate wrote in a brief filing in US District Court in Boston that they were dismissing the case “without prejudice,” a legal term meaning they can re-file the suit at a later date.
“As of the date of filing this motion, the Complaint initiating this action has not been served upon Defendants,” the document said.
Jose Baez, a laywer for the estate who also represented Hernandez during his second murder trial, said the plaintiffs plan to re-file the suit in another court, but he declined further comment.
Baez and the other attorneys representing the estate announced last month that they were filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Pats and the NFL, alleging the defendants failed to protect Hernandez from the adverse effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head and concussions.
Hernandez was acquitted in April on charges that he killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting in Boston in 2012. Five days after the acquittal, he hanged himself in his Shirley prison cell, where he was serving a life sentence for the 2013 slaying of Odin Lloyd.
A judge later vacated Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction in the Lloyd case, since he hadn’t exhausted his appeals at the time of his death. Prosecutors are challenging that ruling.
In addition, the families of all three murder victims have filed wrongful death lawsuits that remain pending against Hernandez’s estate.
Attorneys for the estate wrote in a brief filing in US District Court in Boston that they were dismissing the case “without prejudice,” a legal term meaning they can re-file the suit at a later date.
“As of the date of filing this motion, the Complaint initiating this action has not been served upon Defendants,” the document said.
Jose Baez, a laywer for the estate who also represented Hernandez during his second murder trial, said the plaintiffs plan to re-file the suit in another court, but he declined further comment.
Baez and the other attorneys representing the estate announced last month that they were filing a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Pats and the NFL, alleging the defendants failed to protect Hernandez from the adverse effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a brain condition linked to repeated blows to the head and concussions.
Hernandez was acquitted in April on charges that he killed Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in a drive-by shooting in Boston in 2012. Five days after the acquittal, he hanged himself in his Shirley prison cell, where he was serving a life sentence for the 2013 slaying of Odin Lloyd.
A judge later vacated Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction in the Lloyd case, since he hadn’t exhausted his appeals at the time of his death. Prosecutors are challenging that ruling.
In addition, the families of all three murder victims have filed wrongful death lawsuits that remain pending against Hernandez’s estate.
