NFL accused of being liars and a sham by ex-players over settlement
Hundreds of former players who have made medical claims under the settlement agreement of their class-action concussion lawsuit against the NFL aren’t being paid because the league has tried to “rig” the system, according to a court filing Tuesday by their attorney.
Gene Locks, who represents more than a thousand former players led by former Patriots and Eagles fullback Kevin Turner and former Dolphins safety Shawn Wooden, says the settlement “is failing to provide a fraction of what the NFL promised.”
Most of the former players’ claims filed so far — 1,113 of 1,712 — cite dementia, and only six of those have been paid, Locks says.
The league’s own analysis had anticipated paying out 430 dementia claims in the first year.
Overall, 183 former players have received money under the settlement — less than a third of the NFL’s projected 665.
“The NFL seeks to rig the Settlement system,” says Locks. “This is part of the League’s DNA. Historically, it has always engaged in scorched-earth litigation, and that is what the League is doing here, making it a Settlement in name only.”
The settlement of the multibillion-dollar concussion lawsuit was approved in April 2015 and finalized in January 2017.
The NFL doesn’t control the claims system; a third-party firm, BrownGreer, reviews the claims and oversees the payouts.
However, the league has the power to appeal and audit, and Locks says that’s how it’s obstructing the players’ efforts to get paid.
The NFL has demanded an audit for about half of all claims so far, and about 20 percent have been denied. It has also appealed 35 awards by BrownGreer; most of those are still being processed but two have been overturned.
Former New England Patriots cornerback Ronnie Lippett told The Washington Post his claim was rejected because his dementia was considered a result of his sleep apnea and depression, rather than the other way around.
Lippett said he’s not appealing his claim now because the neuropsychologist who evaluated him is under audit.
“The NFL has turned the Settlement into a secret, privately litigated claim system that involves changing standards for claim packages, inconsistent and often improper standards of review, a black hole of audits, alleged deficiencies, anonymous opinions, denials, appeals, remands, technical squabbles over what a valid diagnosis might be, and the refusal by the NFL to agree to almost an interpretation of the Agreement that will streamline and make reasonable the claims process,” Locks says.
The league denied any wrongdoing.
“The notion the NFL is throwing sand in the gears and trying to block and obstruct, nothing can be further from the truth,” an NFL official told The Post.
“Ninety-four percent of the claims rewards have not been challenged on appeal,” the league official said. “In the overwhelming bulk of the awards made so far, the NFL has not filed an appeal.
“I just don’t think the statistics lie and there’s certainly been an emphasis on the few disappointed players and their representatives to try to suggest something — mainly that the league is obstructing the settlement process — when the actual facts are completely the opposite.”
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