The two longtime Philadelphia Flyers athletic trainers who filed a lawsuit against team ownership in April after receiving similar medical diagnoses they allege came from unknowing exposure to cancer-causing carcinogens at the Flyers training facility, amended their complaint Tuesday to accuse Comcast Spectacor of intentionally punishing one of them, including through verbal abuse from head coach John Tortorella, according to court documents, obtained by Crossing Broad.

In the amended complaint, lawyers representing Jim McCrossin, 64, and Sal Raffa, 43, allege that since July, Comcast Spectacor, and co-defendant FPS Rink, have “directed, instructed, influenced and/or persuaded Philadelphia Flyers L.P. (which is the hockey operations arm of the team), to prevent and/or limit McCrossin’s access to players and/or role in the treatment of players.”

They further allege that in August, Comcast and FPS “directed, instructed, influenced and/or persuaded Philadelphia Flyers L.P. to remove McCrossin from his position as Head Athletic Trainer and to transition him to the position of Senior Advisor.” In addition, it alleges the move was made as “a punishment for his filing a lawsuit for redress in the courts for his cancerous condition caused by the very same defendants.”

Furthermore, the complaint alleges that after removing McCrossin from his position, Comcast and FPS, “directed, instructed, influenced and/or persuaded Philadelphia Flyers L.P. to subject McCrossin to repeated, demeaning and berating conduct from the new head coach (Tortorella) and forced him out of his office on short notice, and/or… Comcast and FPS were aware of these actions.”

Finally, the complaint alleges that Comcast and FPS “directed, instructed, influenced and/or persuaded Philadelphia Flyers L.P. to provide McCrossin with a First Amendment to Employment Agreement that contained a ‘General Release of Claims’ seeking to entice and entrap McCrossin from pursuing legal redress in the courts.”

The general tenor of these allegations is that the actions by Comcast, FPS, and the Flyers were not only intentional, but retaliatory toward McCrossin because he filed a lawsuit against the company for negligence that resulted in his cancer diagnosis.

That’s an important nuance to note, as this was filed as a personal injury claim, and not an employment complaint, which Comcast would prefer, as it would send the case to arbitration instead of a potential jury trial. The cable giant filed an objection in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas stating as much on September 21.

Multiple attempts to reach McCrossin and Raffa’s attorneys from Kline & Specter were unsuccessful prior to publication.

When reached for comment, a Flyers spokesperson provided the following statement:

“Jimmy McCrossin has been a valued member of the Flyers organization for more than two decades, and we hope he remains part of the Flyers family in this new role as senior advisor to the Hockey Operations management team. As we have discussed publicly many times, the Flyers organization made significant investments this offseason in a new, comprehensive athlete health & wellness program after facing unprecedented injuries in recent years. The organization is committed to investing whatever resources are necessary to provide our players with the best, comprehensive care possible.”

Included as evidence in the amended complaint is a copy of the aforementioned General Release of Claims, dated September 1st, in which Comcast was seeking McCrossin’s signature, which could prevent him from the ability to sue the company further.

After initial publication of this story, the Flyers shared two additional pieces of information. The first being that the General Release of claims specifically stated the following exclusion:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of this release, the following are not barred by this General Release: (a) claims asserted in the pending lawsuit, James M. McCrossin, et al. v. Comcast Holdings Corporation, et al., Case No. 220400997 (Phila. Court of Common Pleas, filed April 12, 2022) (the “Lawsuit”); (b) Claims relating to the validity of this General Release; (c) Claims by either party to enforce this General Release; and (d) Claims which are not legally waivable.”

Additionally, Crossing Broad was shown an email from Fletcher to McCrossin that in part, read the following:

“Please review [the employment agreement] carefully with your attorneys, particularly the scope of the release, which was crafted to try to ensure that it doesn’t touch any of the claims in your lawsuit (but they should make sure they agree before you sign).”

According to multiple sources, McCrossin did not sign the agreement. One source said it was at the behest of his lawyers and indicated that while it clearly made an exception for the initial lawsuit, it basically absolved the organization from any further action for how McCrossin alleged he was treated by the organization since signing the lawsuit in April (as outlined above), as well as any potential perceived mistreatment moving forward during his remaining tenure with the organization, which is why he was advised not to sign it.

The new employment document was presented to McCrossin following a meeting with Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher five days earlier.

An email from Fletcher to McCrossin, dated August 26th, and McCrossin’s response, dated August 30th, are also included as evidence:

 

In Fletcher’s email, he cited the “occurrence, recurrence and persistence of numerous player injuries” as a reason for a needed change at McCrossin’s position. However, it should be noted that certified athletic trainers, such as McCrossin and Raffa, do not “train” players. That’s in the hands of the strength and conditioning team.

Athletic trainers monitor and take care of injuries after they have already occurred.

In addition, by law, as well as NHL protocol, athletic trainers are not allowed to clear or release athletes for a return to playing a sport. Only an orthopedic or primary care physician can do that. According to two sources, the Flyers recently parted ways with their Chief Orthopedic physician, Dr. Brian Sennett. Primary Care Physician Gary Dorshimer remains affiliated with the club.

In the email, Fletcher also called McCrossin’s title change an “accommodation” as a result of his cancer treatments, which are taking place at the Cleveland Clinic.

In McCrossin’s email, he references the allegation of Tortorella berating him for taking three players to their final doctor’s visit.

According to a source familiar with the interactions between Tortorella and McCrossin, the two met only twice, once during one of Tortorella’s first days as coach, in which he allegedly chewed out McCrossin for the way he treated players and told him he didn’t want McCrossin on his staff.

The second meeting between Tortorella and McCrossin however, was allegedly the one referenced in the email. With Raffa having a doctor’s appointment of his own, Fletcher allegedly asked McCrossin if he would accompany three players – Sean Couturier, Patrick Brown, and Joel Farabee, to a visit with the orthopedist. Upon return, Tortorella allegedly berated and belittled McCrossin again for being around the players after he had explicitly told him to stay away previously. According to the source, Tortorella was unaware that Fletcher had signed off on McCrossin’s participation with the players that day.

Both McCrossin, who joined the Flyers in 2000, and Raffa (2004) remain employed with the team.

They have both been diagnosed with nearly identical and incurable blood diseases and/or cancer a few months apart in the Spring and Summer of 2021.

McCrossin developed the rare medical conditions essential thrombocythemia, myeloproliferative neoplasm, and the blood cancer myelofibrosis, which is terminal.

Raffa developed thrombocythemia, which is incurable and is proliferative for other blood diseases, such as cancer, or inducing strokes.

After exhaustive research, the pair allege the contraction of these diseases was the result of excessive exposure to cancer-causing carcinogens that are emitted from Zambonis, used to cut and clean the ice surface at the Flyers practice facility, and the result of the training room, where they have worked for the past two decades, butting up against the Zamboni room where these carcinogenic chemicals were potentially ingested extensively due to inappropriate ventilation or through a shared drainage system.

Kline & Specter filed the original complaint on behalf of McCrossin, Raffa and in consortium, their wives, in April in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia.

You can read more about the original complaint and how McCrossin and Raffa allege to have contracted their illnesses.