The six billion dollar lawsuit went on for about six years and now is about to close. Despite the closure though, the sort of confusion that has marred the case since its inception is something that is not commonly seen in the United States legal system (McCann, 2013). One of the things that are seriously being damaged is the fact that the settlement amount that the players would be collecting is not even close to what they would be collecting if they have won the settlement (Stamm et al. 2015).
Why Players Opted for the Lawsuit
The reason that the case was lodged against NFL was due to the fact that there was an allegation that NFL had willfully mistled the players regarding the long term impact of the injuries that were faced by them (Moser & Saunders). The argument that was formed by the forrmer players was based on the rationale that how the evidence that was linking their set of injuries to the brain trauma was linked to the head injury (Moser & Saunders). The respective opinion of the players was that the head impacts that they are facing during the course of their football activity has long term impact over their health (Brenson, 2017).
Is there any Evidence Behind the Rationale Given by the Players
The rationale that is given by the players is set on the premises that the head injuries that they sustain during the coruse of their career are hamful to their career prospects (Saunders, 2017). Looking at the evidence from the medical experts though, this claim does not seem valid (McCann, 2013). There is not enough emperical evidence to prove the fact that the repeated head impacts that are sustained are harmful for the long term health of the players (McCann, 2013).
Higher Cap Value of the New Deal
As a matter of fact, it took multiple rounds of negotiation to make sure that the approval for the revised settlement can be carried out (Moser & Saunders). Due to this revised settlement, the cap amount of about $ 765 was removsed from the damages (Stamm et al. 2015). What has happened that this new deal is going to be costing about $ 1 billion to NFL (Brenson, 2017). As the part of the settlement, there is going to be $ 112.5 million fund that is going to be set aside to make sure that the compensation for the attorneys is carried out who are working on the case (Moser & Saunders). The key thing that has to be noted that the attorneys in all the case have individual retainer agreements that go along with the plaintiff and the way they represented themseves. It can range from about 15 % to 40 % of the eventual awares that are suppposed to be given. What it means is that about half of the settlement that they would be getting is likely to be eaten up by lawyers fees (Brenson, 2017).
Conclusion
In the end, the end ruling is something that has gone against the player. It is due to the fact that the deal clearly states that by making these payments, they are not accepting any sort of liability as well as there is no admission of plaintiff on their part (Moser & Saunders). The case was first filed during the course of 2011, and subsequently was settled as per amount $ 765 million (Saunders, 2017). The federal judge that was overseeing the case was of the concern that the amount that is supposed to be disbursed is going to be not enough to be distributed among 20,000 NFL players (Moser & Saunders).
References
Brenson, K. (2017). Head to Head: The NFL Concussion Scandal and an Argument for OSHA Regulation. U. Chi. Legal F., 595.
McCann, M. A. (2013). Do You Believe He Can Fly: Royce White and Reasonable Accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act for NBA Players with Anxiety Disorder and Fear of Flying. Pepp. L. Rev., 41, 397.
Moser, R. S., Schatz, P., & Fremont, P. Solving the concussion crisis: Practical solutions.
Saunders, Z. (2017). An assessment of hiring practices for head football coaches at the” Power 5″ NCAA Division I FBS level (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh).
Stamm, J. M., Bourlas, A. P., Baugh, C. M., Fritts, N. G., Daneshvar, D. H., Martin, B. M., … & Stern, R. A. (2015). Age of first exposure to football and later-life cognitive impairment in former NFL players. Neurology, 84(11), 1114-1120.
