By Eric Farber & Jon Varnica
As injury claims have mounted, the NFL and the individual teams have fought these cases with little success. In the past few years, the NFL and its management council have attempted to derail the cases by arguing that the claims are subject to arbitration under the Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”). Applicant attorneys and counsel for the NFL Players Association have argued that the CBA does not apply under California Workers’ Compensation laws.
Recently, in a landmark decision, Matthews v. NFL Management Council, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the California Workers’ Compensation regime can displace the NFL’s CBA for retired athletes if the applicant has suffered a ‘discrete injury’ in California.
Bruce Matthews retired in 2002 after playing professional football for more than 19 years. In 2008, he filed for California workers’ compensation benefits for the injuries he suffered during his playing days. Although Matthews played several games in California, he had never played for a California team. However, California’s broad public policy has permitted temporary workers to recover benefits. Since Injured Workers’ Ins. Fund of Maryland v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd., (2001) 66 Cal.Comp. Cases 923 (writ denied), Workers’ Comp courts have allowed anyone who played one game or practiced one day in the State of California to recover benefits.
To prevent Matthews from seeking California Workers’ Compensation benefits, the NFL Management Council and Tennessee Titans filed for Arbitration under the CBA. They argued that Matthews breached his Player Contract with the Titans, which provided that any and all workers’ compensation claims would be decided under Tennessee law.[1] The arbitrator agreed, ruling that Matthews violated the choice of law clause by filing the California Claim in contravention of his contract.
Matthews argued that the choice of law clause in his Player Contract, requiring him to file workers’ compensation claims in Tennessee, conflicted with California’s “no waiver” rule. Codified in California Labor Code §5000, the well-defined public policy declares that “no contract, rule, or regulation shall exempt the employer from liability for the compensation fixed by the [workers’ compensation statute].” This policy is further amplified by the language of Labor Code §2804 that “any contract or agreement, express or implied, made by any employee to waive the benefits of this article or any part thereof, is null and void.”
The Ninth Circuit disagreed with Matthews, however, stating that California’s “no waiver” rule can coexist with a choice of law clause that requires an employee to file a workers’ compensation claim outside California. According to the Court, California’s “no waiver” rule applies only to situations where the player’s claim falls within the scope of California’s workers’ compensation regime. A claim must initially survive the prima facie hurdle of showing that California covers the claim before enjoying the benefits of the “no waiver” rule.
Matthews failed to make the initial showing that California law covers his claim. In the Court’s view, California’s workers’ compensation law covers an employee who suffers a discrete injury in California, or where the costs associated with his or her injury may impact the state’s medical system and other resources. Because Matthews did not allege that he suffered any discrete injury in California or a need for medical services in the state, but only cumulative injuries at various locations during his football career, the court ruled that his claim did not fall under California law.
Matthews’ claim failed not because of the venue clause in his contract or the related arbitration award, but because he did not connect his injuries to his play in California. Matthews played in California 13 times during his 19-year career. While that number may seem insignificant, remember that Matthews was an offensive lineman who spent his trips to California hitting, blocking, and guarding against three-hundred-plus pound defensive linemen. Matthews’ undoubtedly suffered a discrete injury in California, but his claim failed because he did not explicitly assert his cumulative injuries in California.
Like Matthews, the majority of retired athletes pursue workers’ compensation benefits on a cumulative trauma basis, which evaluates injuries sustained throughout an athlete’s career from the first day of practice to the final game before retirement. Mathews serves as instructive guide to retired athletes seeking worker’s compensation benefits in California on the basis of cumulative trauma. To avoid an outcome like Matthews’, future litigants must explicitly assert a discrete injury incurred in California. Doing so will enable retired pro athletes to seek California workers’ compensation benefits and overcome the NFL’s attempt to combat such claims through choice of law clause provisions and the CBA.
Eric Farber is the Managing Partner of Farber & Foote, LLP. Jon Varnica is an Associate with Farber & Foote. Farber & Foote, LLP is a full service practice located in California specializing issues for athletes & entertainers. Farber & Foote filed the first CTE based California Workers’ Compensation case as well as the first ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) case caused by NFL concussions. Farber & Foote is wholly dedicated to helping players through its pro-athlete Workers’ Compensation Practice and its’ support for the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund and other Pro-Athlete Charitable Foundations. Please visit www.FarberFoote.com/pawc or www.GridIronGreats.org for more information on how you can help retired players. Retired Professional Athlete Workers’ Compensation cases have historically been easy to navigate. Due to California’s broad public policy that protects workers, including temporary workers, retired athletes have been able to collect workers’ compensation benefits for many years.
[1] Over the past few years, in an attempt to combat California Workers’ Compensation, some NFL teams have inserted venue clauses for Workers’ Compensation claims in the Player Agreements.
