By Steven Stamps, ESQ
A three judge panel in the Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit has upheld a judgment from the Office of Workers’ Compensation denying benefits to a former New Orleans Saints player, Dan Campbell. The judges, Susan Chehardy, Robert Chaisson, and Hans Liljeberg, held that the plaintiff was not entitled to benefits because his average weekly wage (AWW) could not be more than $525.
Dan Campbell was drafted out of Texas A&M as a tight end by the New York Giants in 1999. In 2009, he was signed as a member of the eventual Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. Campbell never played for the Saints in 2009. He suffered a knee injury during training camp in June and reinjured it between July 31 and August 2. Campbell did not play a game for the Saints following the second injury to his right knee.
Campbell’s contract provided that he would earn $525 per week during pre-season activities. If he were to make the 53 man regular season roster, Campbell was to be paid $335,000 plus additional per game payments. His total pay would have been $745,000 had he made the roster for the entire regular season. Finally, the contract provided that he would receive his entire $335,000 base salary if he were unable to play due to pre-season injury.
Campbell received his $335,000 salary from the Saints during the 2009 season before joining the Miami Dolphins as a consultant. Campbell has remained with the Dolphins and is now their tight ends coach. His original Dolphins contract in 2010 was for $8,000 per month for seven months. It was renewed at $275,000 the next season and $300,000 for the next two years.
Based on these facts, the Office of Workers’ Compensation judge found that Campbell was not entitled to temporary total disability payments because he was paid wages in lieu of compensation. The judge also denied supplemental earnings benefits because Campbell did not prove that he could not earn 90 percent of his pre-injury wages.
On appeal, Campbell argued that the court improperly calculated his AWW using the $525 per week he was earning when he was injured. Campbell argued that his AWW should be based upon his base contract amount of $335,000. The court cited Hoffman v. New Orleans Saints, which it found to be factually indistinguishable. In that case, the court determined that AWW is based upon wages actually earned prior to injury. Contract salary was immaterial to a determination of AWW for workers’ compensation. The Appeals Court held that Campbell’s arguments based upon Meier v. New Orleans Saints cannot reverse the decision of the workers’ compensation judge because Meier is not the law in the Fifth Circuit. The decision of the Office of Workers’ Compensation was upheld.
Steven M. Stamps is an associate for the Law Office of Ricky D. Green. A graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Stamps is a frequent contributor to Sports Litigation Alert, especially in the area of workers compensation.
