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NFL Concussion Class Action Settlement Revision Overview:
- Who: A $1 billion settlement between the NFL and former players suffering from brain injuries has been revised.
- Why: The settlement was revised to allow Black former players to retake cognitive tests or have their results rescored without the use of a formula called “race norming.”
- Where: The settlement stems from litigation in Pennsylvania federal court.
A class action settlement revision will allow retired Black NFL players suffering from brain-related injuries who missed out on compensation to have their cognitive tests rescored or retaken.
The revision is to a $1 billion class action settlement approved in 2015 meant to settle claims by a Class of former NFL players who suffered neurocognitive impairment after playing in the league.
About $821 million of the settlement funds have been handed out so far to former players suffering from brain injuries such as Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and early and advanced dementia, the AP reports.
The settlement revision, meanwhile, comes after two Black former NFL players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, claimed in a class action lawsuit last year that the NFL discriminated against Black players attempting to qualify.
The NFL Had Previously Used ‘Race-norming,’ Which Assumes Black People Have Lower Cognitive Function Than White People, to Determine Concussion Settlement Eligibility
Henry and Davenport alleged the NFL used a racist formula called “race-norming” — which assumes a Black person automatically has lower cognitive function than a White person— when it tested players for neurocognitive impairment.
The practice was adopted as part of a $765 million settlement approved back in 2013 — which was later uncapped — to settle claims the NFL hid what it knew about the concussion risk for players in the league, the AP reports.
The revised settlement will now allow potentially hundreds of players who missed out on being eligible for compensation to either have their cognitive tests rescored or retaken entirely.
“We look forward to the court’s prompt approval of the agreement, which provides for a race-neutral evaluation process that will ensure diagnostic accuracy and fairness in the concussion settlement,” Brad Karp, a lawyer for the NFL, said.
The proposal — which must still be signed off by a federal judge — stipulates that the NFL can no longer use any race-based demographic qualifiers to determine who is eligible for the settlement, the AP reports.
The NFL is not admitting to any wrongdoing under the terms of the revised agreement.
What do you think of the way the NFL tested former players’ cognitive function? Let us know in the comments!
The concussion settlement class is represented by Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP.
Henry and Davenport are represented by Cyril V. Smith, Aitan D. Goelman and Ezra B. Marcus of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP; Edward S. Stone of Edward Stone Law PC; and J.R. Wyatt of J.R. Wyatt Law PLLC.
The NFL Concussion Settlement Class Action Lawsuits are In re: National Football League Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation, Case No. 2:12-md-02323, and Henry et al. v. NFL, Case No. 2:20-cv-04165, both in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
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