In the first part of Jonathan Heubel’s concussion case, the former McDowell High School linebacker sued Allegheny Health Network. A sealed settlement ended that part of the case before trial.
In the second part of the case, AHN sued a chiropractor in Fairview Township.
That part is set for a trial.
A judge has rejected the request of the chiropractor, Phoebe Kutterna, to dismiss the case in Erie County Common Pleas Court.
Judge David Ridge’s ruling puts the case on course for a trial on Nov. 31, according to court records.
Former McDowell High School football player Johnny Heubel, now 22, is shown in rehabilitation from a severe brain injury he suffered at a McDowell game on Sept. 25, 2020. He sued over the injury.
Kutterna and her practice asked Ridge to toss the case based on facts they detailed in what is known as a motion for summary judgment. AHN countered that a dismissal was unjustified, and Ridge agreed.
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The record of the case, Ridge said in a six-page ruling filed July 14, “clearly shows that there are genuine issues of fact regarding liability that are material and disputed by the parties.”
One lawsuit with two sets of defendants
AHN is claiming that Kutterna and her practice, Progressive Chiropractic Center, bear a share of the responsibility for the concussion-related traumatic brain injury that Heubel suffered during a football game in September 2020. Heubel, then 17, was a senior at McDowell, in the Millcreek Township School District.
AHN is seeking damages against against Kutterna and her practice to help offset the costs of AHN’s financial settlement in the original lawsuit. Kutterna and her practice are denying the claims.
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Heubel did not trigger the claims against Kutterna and her practice.
Heubel and his mother and legal guardian, Megan Beasley, sued AHN in 2021. They blamed AHN’s athletic trainers for his brain injury, which has left him unable to care for himself as he lives with his family in Florida. Heubel, known as Johnny, is now 22.
Johnny Heubel, then 17, is shown as he prepared for his senior season on the football team for McDowell High School in the Millcreek Township School District.
AHN brought Kutterna and Progressive Chiropractic Center into the case by naming them as additional defendants in 2023, two years after Heubel and his Beasley filed the original lawsuit.
Heubel and Beasley settled their claims in 2024. The deal was with the original defendants: the Pittsburgh-based AHN and AHN’s Saint Vincent Medical Group, affiliated with AHN’s Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie. Heubel and Beasley sued for $22.5 million, but the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
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Kutterna became involved in the case because she treated Heubel for headaches and back pain leading up to the football game in September 2020.
AHN, according to Ridge’s ruling, claims Kutterna failed to refer Heubel to a physician for concussion management, failed to make a recommendation as to whether he should return to playing football and failed to advise Heubel’s family on whether he should continue to play football.
In denying the claims, Kutterna’s lawyer said, in part, that she properly treated Heubel and “did not have the authority to clear Mr. Heubel to play football under Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines,” according to the ruling.
Ridge in the ruling said several issues remain in dispute. He said they include whether the PIAA guidelines applied to Kutterna and whether she and her practice breached the standard of care for Heubel.
“These are issues of material fact that must be determined by the jury at trial,” according to the ruling.
Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com or 814-870-1813.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Claims proceed against chiropractor in Johnny Heubel concussion case