In what promises to be a string of decade long court battles between the National Football League and retired players involving concussions, it seems that the league itself was handed a major setback by The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Wednesday.
As reported by Pro Football Talk, the court decided that litigation brought by former player Roy Green and other members of the then St. Louis Cardinals may proceed in state court.
This means that discovery and a likely trial will ensue, forcing the NFL to disclose what it knew about the long-term ramifications and effects of concussions.
The significance here is that employers, in this case the NFL, would rather have retired or professional judges decide the outcome and value of said cases. Once the case is brought to a jury setting, there is a strong likelihood that members of the general public will side with the players. In addition to this, the potential payout will likely skyrocket.
As PFT indicated, this also means that other plaintiffs that have settled, but are awaiting final payout, could attempt to continue the litigation instead of pursuing the final settlement itself.
According to a New York Times, a case involving 4,500 retired NFL players that was set to pay them a total of $765 million is already in jeopardy.
Former players, including those who had Parkinson’s, dementia and other ailments, wanted to receive a piece of the settlement quickly. The plaintiffs’ lawyers, including some who worked on contingency, were eager to be paid. The league, mindful of the negative publicity from the case, which includes accusations of negligence and fraud, wanted to focus more on the football field than on the courtroom.
It made sense for both sides involved. The issue here, however, is that Judge Anita B. Brody of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wants more evidence that the total sum was enough to last the duration, 65 years, of the settlement.
If the original case that PFT reported on does end up going to litigation, the 4,500 players involved may decide that they’d rather have Judge Brody push this individual case to the courtroom. It doesn’t take a lawyer to realize that the end result wouldn’t be good for the league.
Photo: CBS.com