NFL Wants Disability Court Case Sent Back to its Board for Further Review. So … NFL Admits Disability Cases Need Further Review?

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Ever since the February suicide of chronic traumatic encephelopathy sufferer Dave Duerson – a staunch adversary of the National Football League retirees’ traumatic brain injury and disability community – I have been arguing that all rejected disability claims on Duerson’s watch, as an NFL Players Association-appointed trustee of the Bert Bell / Pete Rozelle Retirement Plan, must be revisited.

A no-brainer, as it were.

In the course of my reporting on this, I have followed the coverage by Alex Marvez, of FoxSports.com, of the federal lawsuit by ex-journeyman player Andrew Stewart over a rejected disability claim. Stewart’s were not brain injuries (at least, there are no known brain injuries yet); and as it turns out, Dave Duerson did not sit on the deliberations over Stewart’s file – though the circumstances of Duerson’s absence from the board meeting that day only raise further questions. See https://concussioninc.net/?p=4572.

Now let’s pause at one of the tactics by the NFL in the Stewart litigation. The league wants to send this case back to the retirement board for further review. It is reasonable to extrapolate that the defendant expects the exact same result, and that it calculates that its own process portends a friendlier forum than judicial intervention.

The implications are fascinating and potentially far-reaching. No matter the motivation, is the NFL here essentially conceding that disability disputes – Stewart’s and others’, with Duerson’s involvement or otherwise – require further review? That is at odds with their position that past disability denials were based on “objective” standards, open-and-shut.

Through NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, attorney Douglas Ell of the Groom Law Group has declined comment to Concussioninc.net. Aiello emailed that Ell has my query “and will respond if he deems it appropriate.”

 

Irv Muchnick

 

Complete Links to Dave Duerson Coverage at Concussioninc.net

1 Comment

  1. Dave Pear says:

    In my case I was rated over 80% disabled in 1995 by the NFL’s own Dr. Unger and he wrote in his report; “no excessive standing, no bending, and no lifting over 7 to 15 pounds: must be able to rest frequently”. I was told to go get a sedentary job and I was denied total and permanent disability at the age of 42 . NFL Dr. Unger also wrote, “this patient is markedly incapacitated from both the cervical and lumbar areas, all of which were secondary to injuries sustained while playing professional football”.

    In 1983 I applied for the line of duty disability and the NFL’s own Dr Becker he rated me 50 to 59% disabled which met the qualification for this benefit and I was denied.

    In 2004 I qualified for social security disability.

    In 2008 when I applied for total and permanent degenerative disability(again)I was denied and Dave Duerson was a voting member on the disability board.

    I want my case reopened but this time I want all the facts made public so everyone can see what a scam the Bell/Rozelle disability plan really is. Nobody on the board is qualified. NOBODY! This disability debacle was designed and created by the Groom Law Group. If their records are not made public it will only be another PR stunt. The NFLPA has already been found guilty in federal court in the Players Inc. trial for “breach of fiduciary duty” and they are also guilty of this same offense with their fraudulent disability plan.

    A US Department of labor audit of the NFLPA and the Bell/Rozelle Disability Board would expose their clandestine scheme to violate ERISA law and deny valid disability claims.

    Ask disability attorney John Hogan. Mr. Hogan has practiced only disability law for almost 35 years and he has never seen anything like this scheme.

    When will this fraud cease?

    Regards,
    Dave & Heidi Pear
    NFL 1975-1980
    Pro Bowl 1978
    Super Bowl XV
    Social Security Disability at the age of 51
    davepear.com
    footballvets.org

Concussion Inc. - Author Irvin Muchnick