Rows of american football balls in NFL Experience in Times Square, New York. Photo: Alena Veasey/Shutterstock.com
Several attorneys for claimants in the estimated $1 billion NFL concussion settlement have pushed back against new rules that a federal court recently imposed that place limits on which doctors ex-players can use to establish neurocognitive impairment diagnoses.
Philadelphia attorneys Gene Locks of Locks Law Firm and Sol Weiss of Anapol Weiss, as well as Steven Marks of Podhurst Orseck in Miami, filed motions Thursday in the class action settlement asking U.S. District Judge Anita Brody to reconsider her April 11 ruling, which, among other things, established a leadership counsel for the panel that hears appeals of claims and barred players from using neurologists who's primary practices are more than 150 miles from the player's home.
The 15-page motion the attorneys filed said the new rules created additional and unnecessary hurdles for the players and asked the court to set a hearing regarding the issues.
"Among other things, the new rules prevent class members from selecting pre-screened and qualified MAF neurologists and neuropsychologists of their choice and add a new layer of scrutiny," the motion said. "The restrictions compromise a fundamental benefit the class bargained for and received in 2013: the right to choose without restriction an MAF neurologist and neuropsychologist."
Seeger Weiss attorney Christopher Seeger, who is co-lead class counsel, along with Sol Weiss, also filed a motion Thursday, partially joining the other attorneys. His motion, however, only contested the new rules regarding the geographical limitations of the qualified diagnosing physicians.
"There is no evidence that the accuracy of a qualifying diagnosis rendered by a qualified MAF physician in any way correlates to the distance traveled by a retired player for his examination," Seeger said, adding that safeguards against fraudulent claims based on problematic diagnoses are already in place.
Earlier this month, Brody entered an order establishing additional rules dealing with physicians who are qualified to provide diagnoses for players. The two-page order said "Safeguarding the integrity of the claims process is crucial to implementing the settlement with honor."
The order came after months of contentious litigation regarding the claims administration process, including appeals by the NFL that were later discontinued and one filing from Seeger that linked political insider Roger Stone to a Florida attorney representing several former players, who Seeger said was “sowing the ‘media’ with misinformation."
However, according to the lawyers seeking reconsideration, the new rules were also enacted without the consent of class counsel, including Weiss and Seeger, and they take away several aspects of the settlement that the players bargained for.
New rules regarding the level of detail qualified doctors need to provide in order to establish that their dementia diagnoses are "generally consistent" with the claims administration protocols create "an onerous, unworkable burden," the lawyers said. The attorneys also said the rule creating a new two-member leadership committee for the appeals committee makes it so "players must effectively receive a qualified diagnosis from two separate physicians."
"It moves the entire agreement closer to what the NFL always wanted, but the class rejected: something akin to the benefits plan, with a multi-layered set of reviews and a process that provides multiple opportunities to reject a player's claim," the lawyers said.
Although Seeger joined those attorneys regarding the geographic limitations on doctors, he did not address the leadership committee, or the "generally consistent" issue.
Locks, who was the lead attorney on the motion raising the "generally consist" and appeals committee issues, has had previous attempts at raising issues on behalf of the class rejected by the court. In April 2018, he requested to be added as co-lead counsel, along with Seeger and Weiss, but the court denied that request.
Brad Karp of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, who is representing the NFL, did not return a call for comment.