Two years have passed after a couple of former players sued the NFL over the way it treated Black retirees in the league’s $1 billion concussion settlement. Now, hundreds of men who had their medical exams rescored to remove racial prejudice are entitled to receiving awards.
The recently approved payouts were made public in a report on Friday. Therefore, it represents a win for NFL families in the protracted legal battle over concussions.
The lawsuit from 2020 revealed that the dementia tests were being “race-normed” as it was adjusted based on the presumption that Black people have a lower baseline cognitive score. The deal was amended last year in an effort to make the tests race-blind.
The latest findings will increase the NFL’s payments for brain injuries related to concussions by millions of dollars.
Nearly half of the 646 Black males whose exams were reassessed are now eligible for dementia rewards.
According to the claims administrator’s assessment, 61 people are categorized as having early to moderate dementia, with average payouts exceeding $600,000. Another 250 people have less severe dementia and will receive up to $35,000 in improved medical testing and treatment.
“Our work has produced some great results and has opened many eyes,” Ken Jenkins, a former Washington player, said. “Now we’re really focused on getting as many players who deserve compensation to be compensated.”
Jenkins and his wife, Amy Lewis, have requested the modifications from the federal judge supervising the settlement and encouraged the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to look into the matter.
For many years, the fact that the testing algorithm altered scores based on race as an approximate proxy for a person’s socioeconomic background went undiscovered.
Neurology has historically used factors including age, education level, and race to assist diagnose dementia. However, according to experts, the method was never intended to be used to calculate awards in a judicial case.
“In 2022, how can you possibly think that another human being comes out of the womb with less cognitive ability? It’s just impossible to believe that that can be true,” Jenkins said. “It’s unspeakable.”
“Men who are homeless, men who originally signed up but their cognitive function changed, men who are divorced or isolated — we are going to go looking for them,” Lewis said.
The process has lagged as evaluators deal with the more challenging dementia claims. In addition, audits and appeals have also become more intense.
One tale among many
“Their mantra is deny, deny, delay until you die,” James Pruitt said.
Pruitt played for Indianapolis and Miami from 1986 to 1991 as a wide receiver. Then, he decided to retire and started working as a teacher and middle school principal in Palm Beach County, Florida.
“I don’t get out, and I don’t remember a lot of things. I’ve been told that I repeat things,” Pruitt said. “I’m kind of embarrassed by the whole situation.”
He and his wife, Traci Pruitt, attended meetings with attorneys who traversed the nation to pitch the concept to retired players’ associations after the settlement was authorized in 2015.
“We were told … this was going to be a very easy process, you just need to go to the doctors, get a qualifying diagnosis from them,” Traci said. “Yet here we are six years later, and we’re still getting the runaround.”
Doctors have authorized the couple twice only to have their decisions reversed. With the race-neutral scoring formula, their lawyer asserted that they will succeed in their third attempt.