The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has affirmed the ruling of a lower court in the NFL concussion litigation, finding that the lower court and the claims administrator had the authority to request clarifying revised rules that would permit the efficient administration of the settlement agreement between the league and its former players, as well as deter fraud.
The revised rules “were permissible clarifications created for the settlement agreement’s proper and successful administration and were not amendments,” according to the circuit court.
The purpose of the settlement agreement is to provide monetary awards to former players who receive a qualifying diagnosis after following the necessary protocol outlined in the settlement agreement.
Relevant to the appeal to the Third Circuit, the settlement agreement’s “claims administrator and the district court, respectively, created and adopted a set of clarifying, revised rules relating to the ‘successful operation’ of a specific aspect of the monetary award program created by the settlement agreement.”
The players expressed concern over four of those revised rules, arguing that (1) the revised rules amended the settlement agreement, and (2) alternatively, if the revised rules did not amend the settlement agreement, the district court abused its discretion by adopting the four revised rules.
The defendants — National Football League and NFL Properties LLC — and the claims administrator, BrownGreer PLC, successfully countered that the district court’s orders were correct.
“The district court correctly interpreted the settlement agreement and found that what was promised to eligible players, in part, was the ability to see a Qualified Monetary Award Fund (MAF) Physician,” according to the circuit court. “The revised rules did not negate that promise but rather provided clarifications as to how Qualified MAF Physicians could be seen, how diagnoses were to be made ethically, and how diagnoses were to be reviewed efficiently.”
In re NFL Players’ Concussion Injury Litigation; 3rd Cir.; No. 19-2085; 6/12/20
Attorneys of Record: (For Appellants) Charles L. Becker, Kline & Specter, Philadelphia, PA; Lance H. Lubel, Adam Q. Voyles, Justin R. Goodman, Lubel Voyles LLP, Houston, TX; Mickey Washington, Washington & Associates, Houston, TX; James Carlos Canady, The Canady Law Firm, Houston, TX. (For the Settlement Class) Scott A. George, Seeger Weiss, Philadelphia, PA; Samuel Issacharoff, New York University Law School, New York, NY; Diogenes P. Kekatos, Seeger Weiss, New York, NY; Christopher A. Seeger, Seeger Weiss, Ridgefield Park, NJ. (For Appellees) Brad S. Karp, Bruce A. Birenboim, Lynn B. Bayard, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY. (For Non-Party Appellee Claims Administrator) Orran L. Brown, Sr., BrownGreer PLC, Richmond, VA.
