Former Kiwi rugby league prop John Lomax, who is being taken to court by a player seeking unspecified damages over a head-high tackle three years ago, has put the matter in the hands of his lawyers, his club said yesterday.
The legal action relates to a tackle on Adam Ritson, who
was then a promising 20-year-old Parramatta front-rower, in a match between the Canberra Raiders and the Eels in June 1996.
Lomax, now playing with North Queensland, was served in Townsville on Tuesday with a statement of claim for personal injury, the club chief executive Rabieh Krayem confirmed yesterday.
Krayem said neither Lomax nor his solicitors wanted to discuss the case now.
"John has put the matter in the hands of his legal advisers," Krayem said.
"There will be no comment until his legal advisers have been through it all."
The case has been set down for mention in the New South Wales Supreme Court on August 24.
Ritson's mother, Mary-Anne, also confirmed that legal proceedings had been started.
"I really don't want to say anything about the case, but it's true we have taken court action over the tackle," she said.
Lomax received a six-match suspension for the tackle at the time.
After the incident, Ritson was advised to go for a routine head scan, which found that he had a cyst on the brain.
The legal action is likely to centre on whether there was any connection between the tackle and Ritson's condition.
Ironically, one view expressed in newspaper reports at the time of the incident was that the tackle might actually have saved Ritson's life, because he would not otherwise have had the scan that revealed the cyst.
Ritson later underwent extensive surgery, which cut short his playing career. - NZPA
