Lawyers in NFL concussion case confident settlement will be accepted

Lawyers who have proposed a $765-million settlement with the NFL on behalf of roughly 20,000 retired players say they are confident the deal will be approved in court, even though a federal judge on Tuesday rejected the agreement as insufficient.

“We are confident that the settlement will be approved after the Court conducts its due diligence on the fairness and adequacy of the proposed agreement,” Christopher Seeger of Seeger Weiss LLP and Sol Weiss of Anapol Schwartz, co-lead counsels for the retired NFL player plaintiffs, said in a written statement.

The lawyers said analysis from economists, actuaries and medical experts will confirm that the programs established by the settlement will be sufficiently funded to meet their obligations for all eligible retired players.

“We believe this is an extraordinary settlement for retired NFL players and their families, and have received overwhelming support as they have learned about its benefits,” the statement continued. “We look forward to finalizing this agreement so they can soon begin taking advantage of its benefits.”

Some of the plaintiffs are deeply skeptical about whether the money will be sufficient to cover their needs. The deal that was proposed called for the league to spend $675 million for compensatory claims during a 20-year period for players with neurological symptoms, $75 million for baseline testing for asymptomatic men, and $10 million for research and education. The league would pay an additional $112 million to the players’ lawyers for fees and expenses, bringing the total to close to $900 million.

Critics of the proposal say that is a meager amount for a league that generates nearly $10 billion in annual revenue.

“Here’s what they want to do: They want to fund a bunch of studies, and then the guys who are living will get nothing, our families will get no relief at all,” Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure said, noting $675 million spread over two decades would represent roughly $1 million per team per year. “That’s what everybody’s expecting. Same old story: Delay, deny and hope we’ll die.”

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