Wheeler Case Is Moved
A U.S. District Court judge has ordered the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of former Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler transferred to New Jersey, where it can be consolidated with 52 other claims against an ephedra-product-making company in bankruptcy proceedings.
Wheeler, a 22-year-old La Verne Damien High graduate who was a senior safety for the Wildcats, died Aug. 3, 2001, after collapsing on a practice field during an intense set of wind sprints.
His family’s lawsuit is against Northwestern; the university added Nutraquest and another ephedra product-maker, Next Nutrition, as third-party defendants subject to financial responsibility if a jury awarded the family a settlement.
Wednesday’s order will be discussed by attorneys for Northwestern and Wheeler’s family in a Cook County, Ill., courtroom hearing on Monday.
“We are in the process of evaluating what we have to do to overcome that order,” said James Montgomery, a Chicago-based attorney for the Wheeler family. “The company [Nutraquest Inc.] is a third-party defendant in our case, and we are hopeful that distinction will get it remanded back here.”
Montgomery said he was also hopeful Cook County Judge Kathy Flanagan would approve a motion he filed previously to sever the attachment of Nutraquest Inc. in the Wheeler family vs. Northwestern suit.
New Jersey-based Nutraquest Inc., formerly Cytodyne Technologies, made the ephedra-containing Xenadrine RFA tablets that Wheeler reportedly ingested before a grueling test of 28 sprints ranging from 20 to 100 yards.
Nutraquest Inc. filed for bankruptcy in October as a result of dozens of pending personal-injury lawsuits, including the Wheeler case and a $600-million claim by Baltimore Oriole pitcher Steve Bechler’s widow, Kylie.
Wheeler’s family claims Northwestern football Coach Randy Walker instituted a drill that endangered the lives of his players, and that university officials failed to properly treat Wheeler. The university contends that Wheeler endangered his own life by ingesting dangerous products containing ephedra, an herbal supplement banned in December by the Food and Drug Administration.
Northwestern attorney Eric Quandt said, “Our position is we don’t believe the court here in Illinois has any responsibility left in this case except to transfer it to New Jersey. Our position is Rashidi Wheeler died because he ingested two ephedra supplements, and we need to be in the same forum where these cases are being heard to ascertain some final justice.”
A federal court status hearing regarding the transfer will be heard by U.S. District Judge Garrett E. Brown in Trenton, N.J., on Feb. 11.
