Ex-NFL Players’ Disability Benefit Challenge Denied Class Status

Nine former NFL players who say the league’s disability plan uses a sham process to deny valid claims failed to convince a federal judge to certify their case as a class action.

The proposed class spans “over five decades of NFL players” who were subject to a “panoply of practices and policies” when seeking disability benefits from the league plan, Judge Julie R. Rubin said. There are too many individualized inquiries to allow the case to be resolved on a class-wide basis, Rubin said.

“Plaintiffs have not persuaded the court that their claims arising from this overarching policy are typical ...