NFL reaches concussion settlement with its insurance company

concussion settlement - NFL players - Football

Many of the league’s insurers have been battling the requirement to pay players with such injuries.

The N.F.L. has reached a concussion settlement following a lengthy battle regarding payments to players who have been injured. Insurers have been resisting payments to concussed players because they say the league had not adequately disclosed the game’s dangers to its players.

The battle over the concussion insurance payments has stretched out for seven years.

The concussion settlement brings this fight to an end. Insurance companies had been refusing to pay their portion of the costs of the N.F.L.’s 2013 settlement with retired players. That agreement involved paying over $1 billion to retired players who have suffered neurological and cognitive problems after having been concussed on the field.

The league has most recently settled with Westport Insurance Corp. for an undisclosed amount. This, according to a New York State Supreme Court filing.

So far, there have been more than $600 million claims made against the concussion settlement.

Players who are eligible for payments against the settlement between the N.F.L. and its insurers are paid as much as $5 million. The size of the payments depend on the type of neurological and cognitive problems suffered. These medical issues can include anything from Alzheimer’s disease to A.L.S. Payment size also depends on the player’s age at the time that they received their illness diagnosis.

Insurance companies had resisted payments due to the nature of the suit that led to the original settlement. The retired players had accused the N.F.L. of fraud as opposed to negligence alone. They claimed that the league deliberately hid the risks of concussions from the players. Therefore, the insurance companies said they were not required to cover the legal costs for the league, nor the settlement payments, which were finalized four years ago.

Originally, there were 32 insurance companies wrote N.F.L. liability policies, having done so since the 1960s. Six of them came to their own concussion settlement in 2017. This left 26 that continued to battle concussion settlement - NFL players - Footballthe league, including Travelers and Allstate Insurance. The majority of those cases are still active, though the insurers were required to sign off on the Westport settlement.

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