UNM settles wrongful death case involving Lobo football player for $325,000

The University of New Mexico will pay $325,000 to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a former Lobo football defensive lineman who committed suicide in 2019.

The lawsuit accused UNM and former Lobos coach Bob Davie of negligence in forcing Nahje Flowers, 21, to continue playing football after he sustained repeated head injuries as a player, which “caused his mental health to decline.”

The lawsuit, filed in 2020 by Vickie Gilmore and La’Vonte Flowers, also named as a defendant the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA settled those claims for an undisclosed amount in April, according to records in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

The UNM settlement agreement, signed earlier this month, states that it isn’t to be construed in any way as an admission of liability. The settlement also “has no evidentiary significance of any kind or nature whatsoever, other than as may be necessary to prove the facts of the settlement reached,” the agreement stated.

Attorneys for the parents didn’t respond to requests for comment. Neither did a lawyer for the NCAA. A UNM spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Wednesday.

But in filing the case, lawyers for the parents said the lawsuit underscored the dangers of football-related concussions and the need to protect the health and safety of student-athletes like Flowers.

Flowers, a redshirt junior from Los Angeles, played in all 24 UNM football games in 2017 and 2018. But he began at the start of the 2019 UNM season to exhibit concerning behavior and began counseling for depression that October, one month before he died, the lawsuit states. He was prescribed antidepressants by a school psychiatrist and was instructed to sit out for at least two games.

UNM and Davie were blamed in the lawsuit for failing to protect Flowers. The defendants cared “about wins and the bottom-line, not these student-athletes’ success and mental and physical health,” it alleged.

Nahje Flowers told close friends and family, as well as school counselors, the lawsuit alleged, that “the coaches did not understand what he was going through and (forced) him to continue playing because other starters for the football team were injured.”

“Various white players for the Lobos during the 2019 season were given time off by coaches in order to get healthy, however, Nahje Flowers, an African American, was never permitted to take time off to get his mental state healthy,” the lawsuit states. “Coaches would override doctors’ orders and threaten Nahje Flowers to play in games that doctors specifically told him to sit out.”

With what Flowers had been experiencing, “Nahje should have been placed on a 72-hour hold and been monitored until he was stable enough.”

The lawsuit noted that a year prior to Flowers’ death, UNM suspended Davie for 30 days over allegations that he physically assaulted players, obstructed a rape investigation and frequently engaged in racist comments.

UNM, a month after Flowers’ death, agreed to pay Davie a $825,000 buyout. He left at the end of the 2019 season with two years on his contract. During his tenure, Davie had a 35-63 record over eight seasons. He couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

The lawsuit contended the NCAA’s failure to implement protocols to treat Flowers’ concussion induced the suicidal ideations that led to his death. The lawsuit contended the NCAA plays a significant role in governing and regulating the UNM football program and owes a duty to “safeguard the well-being of student-athletes.”

“Defendants failed Nahje in every aspect and their conduct is the sole and proximate cause of Nahje’s death,” the lawsuit alleged. “Plaintiffs want this conduct to be repudiated throughout the NCAA and especially at the University of New Mexico so no other parents have to bury their child because they were forced to play through ailments and injuries, whether physical or mental, all to win games and make money for the institutions that recruited them ...”