Illinois Senate Proposal to Limit Workers’ Compensation Benefits to 35 Years of Age

A recent Illinois legislative proposal in Senate Bill 12 threatens to reduce the ability of professional athletes in the state to collect long-term workers’ compensation benefits.

Under Illinois law, permanently injured workers are able to collect workers’ compensation benefits until age 67. SB 12, which is part of an overall state budget package, contains a provision which would define a covered professional athlete as someone who plays for a professional sports team in Illinois and “derives the majority of his or incoming from playing athletics.” …

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NFL Hit with New CTE Lawsuit in Southern District of Florida

The latest in a string of head injury lawsuits to hit the National Football League was recently filed on November 21, 2016 in federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

As awareness of the long-term head injuries arises, so does litigation against professional sports teams in recent years with especially high-profile cases brought against the NFL. In this most recent iteration, 38 named former NFL players have sued on behalf of a group of 141 retired players seeking workers’ compensation benefits for chronic traumatic …

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Ex-Steeler Entitled to Workers’ Compensation Benefits in Pennsylvania

In a March 4, 2015 decision, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania awarded former center Chukwunweze Sonume (“Chukky”) Okobi $779 per week in workers’ compensation benefits, along with awarding over $22,000 in attorney’s fees and costs, due to multiple injuries sustained during his time in the National Football League.

Okobi played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2001 to 2007, and then was signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2007 and Houston Texans in 2008.  In 2009, Okobi filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits against the …

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Stemming the California Workers’ Compensation “Gold Rush”: AB 1309

As the Sports and Entertainment Law Insider has detailed in a prior article, California remains a popular site for current or former professional athletes to file workers’ compensation claims with its relaxed rules on the filing of cumulative trauma-type claims.  However, this may be coming to an end shortly.

As recently estimated by Gary Toebben, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, 4,500 claims have been filed with up to another 5,000 claims pending, resulting in nearly $750 million in …

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