U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to the $1 Billion Settlement Made with NFL Retired Football Players

Individual NFL retired players will receive up to $5 million of the $1 billion settlement that was reached with the NFL (National Football League). The NFL has recognized that current and former players are exposed regularly to different forms of brain concussions. Some of these injuries lead to neurocognitive or neuromuscular symptoms. The NFL brand of football is increasingly fast, including extremely talented and bigger players. All participants are subjected to serious injuries, including brain injuries.

The player lawsuits originally accused the NFL of hiding what it knew about the link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease found in dozens of former NFL players after their deaths. The settlement avoids the need for a trial and means the NFL may never have to disclose what it knew and when about the risks and treatment of repeated concussions.

The settlement covers more than 20,000 retired NFL players for the next 65 years. The league estimates that 6,000 former players, or nearly 3 in 10, could develop Alzheimer’s disease or moderate dementia.

“This decision means that finally, retired NFL players will receive much-needed care and support for the serious neurocognitive injuries they are facing,” said Christopher Seeger, a lawyer for the retired players. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges to the estimated $1 billion settlement plan by the NFL to settle thousands of concussion lawsuits filed by former players, clearing the way for payouts to those who have been diagnosed with brain injuries linked to repeated concussions.

The various lawyers representing the players in this lawsuit and who negotiated the deal with the NFL stand to receive $112 million in attorney fees. The settlement was approved and then on appeal a 3-judge panel affirmed the decision unanimously. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrote that “this settlement will provide significant and immediate relief to the retired players living with the lasting scars of a NFL career.”

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling catastrophic injury cases, traumatic brain injury cases, concussion injury cases and wrongful death cases for individuals and families who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of another for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Rosemont, Winnetka, Highland Park, Lemont, New Lenox, Prospect Heights, Morton Grove, Park Ridge, Barrington, St. Charles, Aurora, Geneva, Joliet, Chicago (Lincoln Park, Rodgers park, Albany Park, Wicker Park), Lincolnshire and Vernon Hills, Ill.