Counsel for NFL Concussion Class Slams Report of Thin Payouts

An attorney for retired NFL players disputes a USA Today report that some players are getting less than they should from a $1 billion concussion settlement.

The controversy is the latest over the rollout of the class deal once hailed as a model for sports-related personal injury class settlements.

Disputes between the league and thousands of brain-injured former players have centered on the pace and process for payouts, including charges that the NFL “rigged” the payout system and league rebuttals that many claims are fraud-ridden.

Christopher Seeger, of SeegerWeiss LLP in New York and co-lead class counsel for the players, disputed an Oct. 23 report in USA Today that some former players had settlement payouts slashed by “holdbacks” for liens by medical insurers, credit card companies, and lawyers.

In at least one case, a former player with Alzheimer’s disease will end up owing $200 after holdbacks from a $100,000 award, according to the report.

“No class member has been left with a ‘negative’ settlement amount” and players who have had claims denied may resubmit them if their condition worsens, Seeger said in an Oct. 23 statement.

Most ex-players had no medical or lien-related fees held back from their awards and the average holdback has been 2.2 percent, Seeger said.

He added that medical lien holdbacks, when necessary, are “a tremendous benefit to former players who otherwise would have to reimburse these medical liens at much higher amounts” than those negotiated by the settlement administrator.

Award calculations are also adjusted by the court-appointed claims administrator based on the number of seasons played, and legal fees “are reviewed and approved by the court or have been capped by the court,” Seeger said.

A total of $571,632,367 in payouts has been approved by the claims administrator as of Oct. 22, according to the concussion settlement website.

Attorneys representing the players will take home $112.5 million, Judge Anita B. Brody ruled April 5.

Counsel for the NFL in the litigation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

League lawyers, however, have pointed to “extraordinary results” and hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts already approved in the first year of a 60-year program at the same time they warned the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania of “red flags” of fraud in some claims.

Brody ordered Sept. 12 the appointment of a special fraud investigator after court-appointed special masters recommended the move.