Like other lawsuits filed by former college athletes, Greg Brooks Jr. alleges LSU improperly used his name, image, and likeness. But the institution’s improper use has nothing to do with breached contracts or false promises. The former starting safety and Team Captain alleges LSU’s negligent conduct delayed a brain tumor diagnosis, resulting in a rushed brain surgery by an ill-qualified surgeon. Brooks suffered multiple strokes during the surgery, which rendered him severely disabled. The lawsuit provides a detailed description of how LSU ignored clear signs of neurological trauma, subjected Brooks to a major surgery without considering other treatment options, then, without permission, used Brooks’s NIL to garner positive publicity in the months following the disastrous surgery.[1] 

Asserting liability for failure to diagnose is a novel concept in collegiate sports law. Typically, the alleged injury directly relates to the sport itself: the plaintiff in the landmark worker’s compensation case Waldrep v. Texas Emplrs. Ins. Assoc. suffered severe injury to his spinal cord during a TCU football game; Jordan McNair collapsed during football conditioning at Maryland and ultimately died from heatstroke.[2] Brooks’s harm resulted from delayed diagnosis of a medulloblastoma tumor causing adult-onset hydrocephalus: a rare condition in which a tumor on the brainstem blocks cerebral spinal fluid from properly flowing throughout his brain, causing neurological symptoms like migraine, dizziness, nausea, balance issues, etc.[3] Serious issues such as concussions and CTE are well-known risks for football players. Yet, LSU ignored clear warning signs of neurological issues and threatened to remove Brooks from its roster before seeking proper tests and treatment.[4] Thus, unlike precedent, Brooks’s harm directly ties to LSU’s failure to recognize and treat an ongoing medical issue, instead of the sport itself.  

LSU instructed its players to defer to LSU coaches and/or athletic trainers on issues with their health or physical condition.[5] Reliance on their advice proved detrimental for Brooks: LSU coaches and athletic trainers cleared Brooks for practice and games, even though he complained of dizziness, nausea, and headaches daily.[6] LSU Athletic Trainer Owen Stanley responded to Brooks’s continued complaints of textbook neurological symptoms by evaluating him with C3 Logix: an iPad app LSU athletic trainers regularly used to evaluate athletes with suspected head injuries.[7] Stanley cleared Brooks for practice once the app ruled out a concussion.[8] The next week, Stanley responded to Brooks’s persistent complaints by saying he needed a Vertigo test.[9] LSU’s team doctor, Dr. Vincent Shaw, approved Stanley’s diagnoses without examining Brooks himself.[10] 

Although given the “option” to sit out practice and/or a game, coaching staff warned Brooks if he chose to do so, someone else would take his place, thus risking forfeiting his starting position.[11] So, Brooks continued practicing – and even starting in the first two games of the 2023 season – before LSU ordered an MRI 39 days after his initial complaint. It revealed Brooks’s symptoms were caused by hydrocephalus due to a malignant brain tumor. LSU arranged for emergent brain surgery the very next day at an LSU affiliated hospital.[12] LSU selected Dr. Brandon Gaynor to remove the cancerous tumor sitting on his brain stem, a delicate part of the brain that controls everything from balance to speech to mood. LSU’s rash decisions not only prevented the Brooks family from exploring other treatment options, but also directly contributed to the multiple, disabling seizures Brooks suffered during the surgery.

This is a tragic example of causation: but for LSU’s acts/omissions, Brooks, despite the severity of his diagnosis, likely would have lived a normal life, free of disability. In an interview with Good Morning America on February 3, 2025, Brooks’ father noted, “the disease is not the issue. He did wonderful with his radiation, with his chemo. This is the aftermath of injury from surgery."[13] Seizures and/or brain damage are not a guaranteed consequence of hydrocephalus – if that were true, I would not have graduated college, let alone law school. My benign brain tumor developed during elementary school. I suffered undiagnosed hydrocephalus symptoms most of my life, including issues with speech, memory, balance, direction, and processing information, as well as increasingly intense headaches, nausea, and dizziness. The pressure eventually reached my optic nerves, affecting my vision to the point of periodic 100% blindness by the time I was diagnosed as a college sophomore. Although doctors said I needed surgery immediately, my parents thoroughly researched my condition and options before we decided on treatment and the neurosurgeon to perform it. This informed decision has allowed me to live a relatively normal, healthy life in the five years since my surgery, culminating in my law school graduation this May. LSU robbed Brooks of such opportunity: not only to determine the objectively optimal treatment, but also to experience life as a normal, healthy man in his twenties. Today, Brooks remains wheelchair bond, struggling to speak and perform basic physical movements.[14] This easily could have been prevented. 

Events following the disastrous surgery demonstrate a cold disposition. LSU advised Brooks after the surgery that St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, an institution with ample experience in removing brain tumors, was ready, able, and willing to accept him as a patient.[15] The family later learned Brooks’ surgery is routinely performed by fellowship-trained pediatric neurosurgeons – and that Dr. Gaynor specializes in adult spinal surgery.[16] Further, LSU used Brooks’s NIL to protect its public image without accomplishing the good will it claimed. It created a fundraising page to raise money for Brooks’s treatment, yet the Brooks family has received none of it.[17] It repeatedly publicly disclosed confidential information about Brooks’s condition without consent.[18] LSU honored Dr. Gaynor with a “Geaux Tigers Hero” award for “heroic” efforts in treating Brooks.[19] Not only did LSU fail to consult the Brooks family before bestowing the award, but, according to Mr. Brooks, no one from LSU has contacted the family since the surgery.[20] 

While the injustice of the situation is evident, liability for failure to diagnose is a novel cause of action in collegiate sports law. Prior cases like Waldrep predict a grim likelihood of success: the concept of a “student-athlete” provided a nearly impenetrable liability shield for the NCAA and its member schools.[21] However, the recent, albeit unpredictable, direction of sports law litigation provides a glimmer of hope. Alston and Johnson hamstring the amateurism defense, opening the door for unprecedented rights afforded to student-athletes: Alston demonstrated never-before-seen antitrust accountability against the NCAA; Johnson fashioned a test that will likely grant student-athletes employment status – an idea once considered taboo. Brooks may very well be the case that allows student-athletes to successfully assert liability for instances of gross misconduct by NCAA member schools. LSU’s actions before, during, and after Brooks’s disastrous surgery demonstrate the nightmarish consequences of a university not held accountable.    

Keeton Cross is a 3L at Cumberland School of Law with majors in Marketing and English from the University of Alabama. You can find her on X (@keeton_cross) and on LinkedIn.

Sources:

[1] See Brooks v. Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Medical College, available at https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/theadvocate.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/1b/a1baadaf-da46-5a6c-833b-701fa2635866/6709796a3d52a.pdf.pdf 

[2] See Waldrep v. Tex. Emplrs. Ins. Ass'n, 21 S.W.3d 692 (Tex. App. 2000); https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/sports/football/Jordan-McNair-death-settlement-Maryland.html 

[3] “Geaux Hero: LSU Football Star Greg Brooks Jr. Gets Expert Care for Rare Brain Cancer from Our Lady of the Lake,” available at https://health.fmolhs.org/about-us/team-member-spotlights/geaux-hero-greg-brooks-care-team/ 

[4] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶ 14.

[5] See id, at ¶ 8.

[6] See id. at ¶ 14.

[7] See id. at ¶ 12.

[8] Id. 

[9] See id, at ¶ 13.

[10] See id. at ¶ 12.

[11]See id. at ¶ 14.

[12] See id. at ¶ 18.

[13] See “Greg Brooks Jr. speaks out about lawsuit against LSU, recovery from brain surgery,” available at https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/greg-brooks-jr-speaks-lawsuit-lsu-recovery-brain-118372917 

[14] Id.  

[15] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶ 22.

[16] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶ 21; https://www.theneuromedicalcenter.com/physicians/brandon-gaynor-md/;

[17] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶ 27.

[18] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶ 26.

[19] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶¶ 24-25.

[20] See Brooks, Complaint at ¶¶ 23-24; Good Morning America Interview

[21] See Waldrep, 21 S.W.3d at 700 (heavily relying on the NCAA’s “fundamental policy” of amateurism, the court reasoned Waldrep’s scholarship from TCU could not be considered “pay” or “income” sufficient to constitute any contract for hire because the NCAA manual at this time had a strict anti-pay-for-play policy, but considered scholarships or educational grants-in-aid as permissive payments for players (i.e. not payment for play)).