Buzzfeed reported that on Wednesday, the National Football League has agreement to a settlement with the plaintiffs of an ongoing class action lawsuit who have claimed to have suffered from brain injuries due to concussions they have received during their time in the league.
In August of last year, the NFL has offered to shoulder financial responsibility, but capped it at $765 million for over 4,800 former players. However, the New York Ties said that Anita B. Brody rejected the proposal in January as she has expressed doubts on whether the settlement money would be able to cover the claims of all the plaintiffs.
The agreement reached today would have the league grant immediate assistance to players who have developed, or believed to have been developing cognitive injuries. Moreover, the NFL would also be providing $10 million to fund a program that would educate players to avoid concussions.
In a statement, NFL Senior Vice President Anastasia Danias said, "Today's agreement reaffirms the NFL's commitment to provide help to those retired players and their families who are in need, and to do so without the delay, expense and emotional cost associated with protracted litigation. We are eager to move forward with the process of court approval and implementation of the settlement."
Buzzfeed said in recent years, evidence of a link between taking hard hits in the sports league and the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy has accumulated. Citing the brain scans of NFL Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, CTE has been touted as the brain injury affecting many former football players.
The plaintiffs' legal counsel, Christopher Seeger and Sol Weiss, said in a joint statement, "This settlement guarantees that these benefits will be there if needed, and does so without years of litigation that may have left many retired players without any recourse."
The Times said the requirement to qualify for cash awards has remained intact, which means that younger, retired players and those who have played the longest could be able to get more than the older retirees given the amount of their contracts.
