$11.2 Million Awarded for Injury

A former high school football player in Portland, Ore., has been awarded $11.2 million from a jury that concluded a defective football helmet caused him to suffer a severe brain injury four years ago.

A helmet made by Bike Athletic Co. was unreasonably dangerous, leading to acute bleeding within the brain of Richard Austria, then 16, a jury in Multnomah County Circuit Court decided by an 11-1 vote.

Austria, 20, has severe, irreversible mental and physical impairments resulting from an acute subdural hematoma he suffered Oct. 1, 1985. The condition results from bleeding in the brain caused by the force of a blow.