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 Christopher Seeger, co-lead counsel for the retired NFL players,
said if even one of the 5,000 players involved in the settlement
filed an appeal, benefits would probably be held up a year.
U.S. District Judge Anita Brody on Wednesday approved the settlement
of a lawsuit brought by the former players who accused the NFL of
keeping secret the dangers of concussions.
However, the family of one prominent former NFL player has already
signaled it will appeal the ruling on the grounds it excludes
certain key brain injuries.
Seeger said appeals were unlikely to succeed because Brody, who has
worked on the case since 2013 and twice sent it back to lawyers to
be reworked, gave the deal the green light.
"Appeals, in my view, are just wasting the time of people who are
very sick, like Kevin Turner," Seeger said of the former NFL
fullback who suffers from ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
"For a small group of guys to hold up the 99 percent that have
accepted the deal, well, it would just be selfish."
Still, Thomas Demetrio, an attorney for the family of former Chicago
Bears Pro Bowler Dave Duerson who killed himself in 2011 and was
found to have suffered a brain disease blamed on repeated
concussions, told NBC Chicago the family would appeal.
The settlement plan doesn't include future awards for chronic
traumatic encephalopathy, which can only be diagnosed after death.
Concussions have been a hot-button issue in the NFL. The settlement
allows for awards of up to $5 million per retired player for serious
medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma.
The deal could cost the league, whose annual revenues are nearly $10
billion, about $1 billion over 65 years.
Attorney Jason Luckasevic, who represents about 550 players in the
settlement, called the deal "bittersweet."
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"There's so much more that could have and should have been done for
these players who suffer serious and permanent cognitive and
behavioral mental handicaps," he said.
"How about the guys that [...] have days that are very dark and
depressing because they are still living an independent life? They
get nothing," he said.
Dave Pear, 61, a Pro Bowl defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers and Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders, called
the settlement price tag "a nuisance fee" for the NFL.
Pear, who retired after the 1980 season, has had 13 surgeries on his
spine and suffers from dementia, vertigo and memory loss. He will
receive a share of the settlement but does not know how much.
"My recommendation to parents? Don't ever let your kids play
football," he said.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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