THE high-profile concussion legal case involving hundreds of former Rugby League players is in the balance after two days of proceedings at the High Court this week.

Many of the claimants in an action which began six years ago and also involves ex-rugby union players face having their cases struck out following a long-standing procedural row over the disclosure of medical records.

Senior master Jeremy Cook, the presiding judge, ruled in favour of the defendants, which include the Rugby Football League, that a court order to disclose all documents relating to the players’ neurological testing had not been complied with.

Rylands Garth, the firm representing the former players and led by solicitor Richard Boardman, are stepping aside from the case as a result, with Leigh Day, who have been working on it as consultants since February, considering whether to take over.

A statement issued on behalf of the players said: “We would like to place on record our sincere gratitude to Rylands Garth and in particular Richard Boardman.

“We concluded it was in the best interest of the claimants to appoint a firm with the resources and expertise required to lead the litigation through its next phase.

“We would like to reassure the court, our fellow claimants and the wider rugby family that we believe this represents a positive step in progressing the litigation.”

The whole case remains in the pre-trial phase because the two legal teams have been in the process of agreeing a smaller number of claimants, out of more than 1,000 now involved from across the two rugby codes, to bring forward to trial.

The test cases brought forward would be a mix of League and union players and representative of the different neurological conditions diagnosed among the claimants, plus the eras in and level at which they played.

But the defendants, which also include World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union, argued this could not be done without all relevant medical documents being disclosed.

Rylands Garth’s non-compliance has led the governing bodies to press for almost 500 cases, including 153 related to Rugby League, to be struck out.

The judge has retired to make judgement on this and it is unclear how long he will take to do so, having said there was no legal precedent for the situation.