NFL-League says working to eliminate 'race-based norms' in brain injury settlement program

[June 03, 2021]    By Amy Tennery

(Reuters) -The National Football League (NFL) said on Wednesday it was "committed to eliminating race-based norms" in its $1 billion settlement program with former players over brain injuries.

General view of the NFL Shield logo on the field before Super Bowl LV between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports/File Photo

In an ABC News interview https://abcnews.go.com/US/negotiator-nfl-concussion-settlement-program-race-norming-wrong/story?id=78031699 set to air on Wednesday, Christopher Seeger, an attorney for former players in the landmark concussion settlement said that the compensation program discriminated against Black players by using a system known as "race-norming" in cognitive tests.

Former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport alleged in a proposed class-action filed in federal court https://today.westlaw.com/
Document/
I8cf5daf0e71a11ea9ba8dd84509ed432/
View/FullText.html?transitionType=SearchItem&contextData=(sc.Search) in August that the "race-norming" process, used to evaluate cognitive function, assumed a lower baseline cognitive functioning for Black players than white counterparts, making it more difficult to qualify for a settlement award.

A spokesman for the NFL said parties to the settlement have worked with "members of the neuropsychological industry" and the magistrate judge in the case to "help identify alternative testing techniques."

"Everyone agrees race-based norms should be replaced, but no off-the-shelf alternative exists and that's why these experts are working to solve this decades-old issue," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a written statement.

"The replacement norms will be applied prospectively and retrospectively for those players who otherwise would have qualified for an award but for the application of race-based norms."

Seeger told Reuters in a written statement that the settlement "only works if former players believe in it."

"Today our focus is on eliminating the use of ‘race norms’ in the claims process and rescoring claims where they were applied," he said.

The NFL spokesman said the diagnostic testing in the program relied on "independent professionals" using methodology "developed by leading medical and scientific experts."

"That methodology was based on standard medical neuropsychological techniques long and widely used in leading practices," he said. "Their origins were to stop bias in testing, not perpetrate it."

The NFL Players Association did not have immediate comment.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Additional reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Toby Davis)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.