Former players appealing the NFL's $1 billion
plan to address concussion-linked injuries asked a court on Thursday to reject
the settlement because it excludes what they call the signature brain disease
of football.
Critics insist that any deal include future
payments for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain decay found in dozens
of former players after their deaths.
"CTE was the soundpiece of the original
(lawsuit)," lawyer Steven F. Molo argued before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals. "It is a fundamental issue in the case. It is mentioned 14
times."
The settlement would resolve thousands of
lawsuits and cover more than 20,000 NFL retirees for the next 65 years. The
league estimates that 6,000 former players, or nearly three in 10, could
develop Alzheimer's disease or moderate dementia.
They would receive an average of $190,000,
although the awards could reach several million dollars in the most serious
cases, which include young men with Parkinson's disease or Lou Gehrig's
disease.
The lead negotiators, in response to the
criticism, said former players might otherwise have gotten nothing because the
NFL had pushed for the complaints to be thrown out of court and sent to
arbitration. And the science behind CTE is in its early stages; the damage
cannot currently be diagnosed in the living.
"The science could determine that all
that matters for CTE is the concussive hits you took before your 18th
birthday," lawyer Paul Clement, a former U.S. solicitor general, argued
Thursday for the NFL.
The settlement grants up to $4 million for
prior deaths involving CTE, but it set an April 2015 cutoff date to avoid
incentivizing suicides.
The list of former players who have killed
themselves and been diagnosed with CTE includes Hall of Fame center Mike
Webster of Pittsburgh; Pro Bowler Junior Seau of San Diego; and Ray Easterling
of Atlanta, a named plaintiff in a 2011 concussion lawsuit before his death the
following year.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Anita B.
Brody steered the parties to mediation and approved the settlement in April,
after persuading the NFL to remove a $765 million cap so the fund doesn't run
out. The settlement also sets aside money for baseline testing, education and
research.
Some of the approximately 90 objectors
complain that it compensates only a few neurological conditions, and not the
depression and mood disorders they link to concussions and CTE.
That led Circuit Judge Thomas M. Hardiman to
ask if the settlement should be "watered down by every field goal kicker
who's depressed?"
The lead plaintiff lawyers who negotiated with
the NFL argue that time is of the essence for people like former Philadelphia
Eagle Kevin Turner, who is battling Lou Gehrig's disease, a fatal neuromuscular
disease. However, their critics note that they stand to collect up to $112
million in fees if the deal goes through.
"They didn't even go after the memos in
NFL headquarters about what they knew about CTE and when," lawyer Deepak
Gupta argued Thursday for the appellants, complaining that the case was settled
before much evidence was exchanged.
The three-judge panel is expected to rule
early next year.
This post was originally published here: Lawyers: NFL
Concussion Deal Excludes Central Brain Injury
Related article: Personal Injury Lawyer: Who
is a personal injury lawyer
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