Supreme Court Petitioned to Block $1 Billion NFL Concussion Settlement

legal news banner

The National Football League may be hoping this case gets swept under the rug and isn’t met with much public consumption moving forward.

But a group of former NFL players and their lawyers are resilient in their efforts to not only bring the concussion issue to light, but force the league to pay out a larger sum.

A settlement agreed to by the NFL and former players required the league to pay out $1 billion in damages for its handling of player’ related head trauma and concussions in the decades prior to the 2014 agreement.

Those that filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court to block the settlement on Monday are claiming that it favors the few over the thousands that had initially taken part in the class-action suit.

According to ESPN, Hall of Fame defensive end Charles Haley is among those petitioning the Supreme Court, claiming that Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) diagnosed before April of 2015 could bring out a $4 million payout, while those who are diagnosed with the condition after that date would be left out in the cold.

The petition claims that this agreement violates previous Supreme Court rulings that indicated each subgroup within a larger class-action suit be treated fairly.

According to the petitioners, this agreement treats those who were diagnosed with CTE unfairly. For example, the family of former Chicago Bears defensive back Dave Duerson, who was found to have CTE after his 2011 suicide, can collect $4 million under the agreement.

Meanwhile, the family of recently deceased Oakland Raiders Hall of Fame quarterback Ken Stabler cannot. He wasn’t diagnosed with the disease until after his death in July of 2015.

Players who took part in the original agreement say that this petition continues to block payouts to family members who are reliant on funding from the suit.

It’s not yet known when the Supreme Court will decide whether to take this case up, but it will surely be a big story if the nation’s most-important court does decide to involve itself here.

Be the first to comment on "Supreme Court Petitioned to Block $1 Billion NFL Concussion Settlement"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*