49ers Will Pay Krueger $1-Million-Plus

The San Francisco 49ers have agreed to pay former defensive lineman Charlie Krueger more than $1 million after being found liable for fraudulently failing to reveal the severity of his crippling knee injury, Krueger’s lawyer said Wednesday.

If the settlement is accepted, it will dismiss the National Football League team’s appeal of a judge’s ruling ordering the 49ers to pay Krueger $2.36 million.

Though the exact details of the settlement are being kept confidential, attorney Clark Leslie said Krueger will get about $750,000, after legal fees and expenses.

Krueger, 48, was a mainstay of the 49er line from 1958 to 1973. He tore a ligament in his left knee in 1963 and underwent surgery to have it removed. A state appeals court ruled in February, 1987, that the team never told him that a ligament was missing from his knee and failed to advise him of the risk of playing in severe pain for the rest of his career.