EX-NFL Players Advance Would-be Class Suit Over Disability Plan

Ten former National Football League players advanced their proposed class action claiming the league’s disability plan engages in an overly aggressive pattern of denying benefits without proper justification.

The players advanced the bulk of their claims seeking denied benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to an opinion docketed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Maryland. The court dismissed other aspects of the five-count lawsuit, including certain claims for fiduciary breach under the statute and claims raised against league commissioner Roger Goodell and other individual defendants.

“Plaintiffs plausibly allege that the Board acted inconsistently ...