Phillip Adams’ father is suing the NFL over the former defensive back’s death and the killings he committed, and the case is now moving toward trial. Alonzo Adams filed the wrongful death and negligence lawsuit in 2023 against the NFL, NFL Properties LLC, and South Carolina State University after a post-mortem examination found his son had an unusually severe form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In January 2026, a South Carolina state judge denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss, and the case entered discovery.1Post and Courier. SC Football Player CTE Lawsuit
Adams, 32, shot and killed six people at a home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on April 7, 2021, before taking his own life. The victims were Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara, their grandchildren Adah and Noah, and HVAC workers James Lewis and Robert Shook.2QC News. 5 Years After Rock Hill Tragedy, CTE Findings Still Fuel Legal Battle York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said investigators could not determine a motive and found no evidence Adams had been a patient of Dr. Lesslie.3ABC 7 Chicago. Rock Hill Shooting: Connection Between Phillip Adams and Dr. Robert Lesslie
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The complaint, filed in Orangeburg County, claims the NFL knew about the neurological risks of repeated head trauma but failed to adequately protect players. It also alleges that South Carolina State University, where Adams played from 2006 to 2009, failed to educate players about concussion risks, properly train its staff, or create a safe environment for athletes.4QC News. Judge Progresses CTE Lawsuit in Case of Ex-NFL Player Accused of Killing 6 in Rock Hill
A specific claim targets the NFL’s sideline “spotter program,” which is designed to monitor games for player concussions. The lawsuit alleges the program failed to identify Adams’ head injuries during his career.5The Herald. Adams Family CTE Lawsuit Remanded to State Court During the 2012 season with the Oakland Raiders alone, Adams sustained two documented concussions.6Yahoo Sports. Who Was Phillip Adams, Former NFL Player Identified as Suspect in South Carolina Shooting His family has said he sought disability benefits from the NFL after his career but was denied, and that he struggled with memory problems and could not handle tasks like traveling long distances for medical evaluations.7Denver Post. Phillip Adams Brain Trauma Autopsy
The CTE Finding That Drives the Case
In December 2021, Dr. Ann McKee at Boston University’s CTE Center announced that Adams’ brain showed Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy with what she called an “extraordinary amount” of pathology concentrated in both frontal lobes.8CNN. Phillip Adams Had Unusually Severe CTE CTE is graded on a four-stage scale, with Stage 4 the most severe. McKee said the Stage 2 grade was consistent with about two dozen other NFL players who died in their 20s and 30s, but Adams’ case stood apart because of the concentrated damage in his frontal lobes, a pattern she compared to that of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.9ESPN. Autopsy of Ex-NFL Player Phillip Adams Shows Unusually Severe CTE Damage
McKee said frontal lobe damage of this kind can produce “rage behaviors, violent tendencies, depression, impulsivity, all sorts of things,” and described Adams’ decline as a “cumulative progressive impairment.”8CNN. Phillip Adams Had Unusually Severe CTE Alonzo Adams told reporters his son “wasn’t himself” before the shooting. “If he would have been the Phillip we raised, he never would have done it,” he said.10The Herald. Phillip Adams Family Statements
The Fight Over Federal Versus State Court
After the NFL was added as a defendant in March 2024, the league moved the case from state court in Orangeburg to federal court in Columbia. It argued the claims were governed by the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players’ union and therefore preempted by federal labor law.11The Herald. NFL Filed Motion to Move CTE Case to Federal Court In March 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis rejected that argument, finding that the claims did not substantially depend on interpretation of collective bargaining agreements. She sent the case back to state court.4QC News. Judge Progresses CTE Lawsuit in Case of Ex-NFL Player Accused of Killing 6 in Rock Hill
Why the Case Survived Dismissal
Back in state court, the NFL and South Carolina State University each moved to dismiss. In January 2026, Circuit Judge Charles J. McCutchen denied both motions. The central ruling addressed the statute of limitations. Defendants argued the case was filed too late, but McCutchen held that what matters is not when an injury was inflicted but when a plaintiff learns of it. Because CTE can only be diagnosed after death, the Adams family had no way to know about the condition, and no legal standing to bring a wrongful death claim, until after the post-mortem examination.1Post and Courier. SC Football Player CTE Lawsuit
McCutchen also rejected the NFL’s challenge to personal jurisdiction. He ruled that under South Carolina law, a defendant can be sued in the state if it earns revenue there under the benefit of state law. To measure the extent of the NFL’s presence, the judge ordered the league to produce documents on its business ties to South Carolina, including contracts allowing local vendors to sell licensed merchandise, advertising revenue, agreements with South Carolina colleges, and records related to the Carolina Panthers’ headquarters and practice facility project in Rock Hill.1Post and Courier. SC Football Player CTE Lawsuit
Gedney Howe IV, one of the Adams estate’s attorneys, called the ruling “the first of its kind” and said, “Step by step, we are accomplishing exactly what the NFL said we never could.”1Post and Courier. SC Football Player CTE Lawsuit No trial date has been set.12The Herald. Judge Denies NFL Motion to Dismiss in Adams CTE Lawsuit
Why Adams Wasn’t Covered by the NFL Concussion Settlement
The Adams lawsuit is not part of the class action that resolved most former players’ concussion claims against the league. Beginning in 2011, more than 4,500 former players filed concussion-related lawsuits that were consolidated into a single class action in Pennsylvania federal court. The Third Circuit affirmed the settlement in 2016, covering more than 20,000 retired players with close to $1 billion in uncapped monetary awards, baseline health assessments, and education funding.13Justia. In Re NFL Players Concussion Injury Litigation
That settlement only covered players who retired before July 2014, and it released the NFL from all concussion-related claims, including those involving CTE. Adams played his last NFL season in 2015 and did not formally retire by 2014, which made him ineligible both for that settlement and for testing under it.7Denver Post. Phillip Adams Brain Trauma Autopsy That gap is part of what makes the current case legally distinct: rather than seeking compensation through the existing settlement, the Adams estate is pursuing an independent state-court negligence claim.
The Separate Shook Family Lawsuit
A different lawsuit, filed in December 2021 by Holly Shook, the widow of victim Robert Shook, targets Adams’ estate rather than the NFL. That wrongful death suit sought damages exceeding $75,000 along with punitive damages and a jury trial, and was active in federal court in South Carolina as of 2022. During discovery, Shook’s legal team sought medical and disability records related to Adams from the NFL, his former teams, and the players’ union, and a federal judge issued a confidentiality order covering those materials.14WBTV. Widow of Victim in SC Mass Shooting Files Wrongful Death Suit Against Estate of Phillip Adams10The Herald. Phillip Adams Family Statements No final resolution of that case has been publicly reported.