Update: Garcia-Tatupu v. NFL Player Retirement Plan

On June 8, 2018, the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan and the NFL Player Supplemental Disability Plan (defendants), an ERISA-governed multiemployer pension plan which provides retirement and disability benefits to eligible NFL players and their beneficiaries, asked the First Circuit not to reverse the lower court decision that the NFL’s retirement board properly denied claims made by the ex-wife of a late New England Patriots player, Mosiula F. “Mosi” Tatupu.

As we have previously covered, more than four years after his 2010 …

August 16, 2016 NFL

NFL Hits Back At Disability Claim By Former Player

Charles Dimry, former cornerback in the National Football League, is not giving up on his disability claims against several NFL disability plans. The NFL Player Supplemental Disability Plan and the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement plan recently filed a reply requesting, again, to dismiss Dimry’s claim of erroneously denied disability benefits for ex-players.

After suffering major injuries during his NFL career, followed by several invasive surgeries – including an allegedly botched surgery for a protruding spinal disc, Dimry applied for full disability and was …

June 28, 2016 NFL

NFL Retirement Plan Throws Red Flag: Challenges Maryland Federal Court Decision

On June 22, 2016, the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan filed a notice of appeal to the Fourth Circuit regarding a Maryland federal court’s decision to award a former player total and permanent disability benefits, which were previously denied.

Jesse Solomon, a former linebacker, claimed that he had been denied disability benefits due to the plan’s failure to accept determinations by his physician and the Social Security Administration that he is permanently disabled. The NFL’s Retirement Board made the determination that Solomon …

May 21, 2016 Litigation / NFL

A Rocky Road for Former NFL Player Seeking Full Disability Benefits

Regulated and governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), The Bert Belle/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan and The NFL Player Supplemental Disability Plan said it did not breach its fiduciary duties to beneficiaries and participants of the plan, in an attempt to dismiss one cause of action in a lawsuit brought by a former NFL cornerback.

Charles Dimry played for the Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Diego Chargers during the years 1988-2000. In 1997 and again …