Litigation Funding Companies Claim Judge Improperly Assumed Jurisdiction in Concussion Settlement Case

On January 23, 2019, three litigation-funding companies, RD Legal Funding LLC, Atlas Legal Funding LLC, and Thrivest Specialty Funding LLC told a three-judge panel that U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody, the judge who oversaw the NFL concussion case settlement, improperly assumed jurisdiction over third party funding contracts between the companies and the former players. The litigation funding companies argued that Judge Brody lacked jurisdiction to bar the litigation funding companies from recovering their stake in the settlement. As we have previously reported, in…
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Notices in the NCAA $75 Million Settlement Finally Complete

On September 12, 2018, attorneys representing the NCAA notified U.S. District Judge John Lee that the direct notice portion in the $75 million dollar NCAA Concussion Litigation case had ended. As we have continued to report, Judge Lee has delayed the final approval of a $75 million settlement several times after he learned that thousands of current and former NCAA student-athletes were yet to be notified of the settlement. Judge Lee originally approved the $75 million settlement in July 2016, but delays, largely attributed…
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Update: NCAA $75 Million Settlement Delayed Again

On July 2, 2018, in a joint motion, both parties in the NCAA $75 million concussion settlement asked the court to, once again, push back a final hearing in the $75 million settlement. The parties asked the court to push back the hearing for the same reasons that settlement has been delayed over the past several months, not all of the possible class members have been provided proper notice regarding the settlement. If the judge grants the motion, it will be the sixth time…
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Judge Preliminarily Approves NCAA’s $209 Million Antitrust Settlement

A U.S. District judge has granted preliminary approval for a $208.7 million settlement in the antitrust lawsuit between student-athletes and the NCAA/eleven athletic conferences. The approval came after revisions were added to exclude claims in other athletes’ suits and to modify class definitions. As background, the student-athletes’ original complaint, filed in 2014, challenged the NCAA’s rules prohibiting universities from paying students a larger sum than a full grant-in-aid — which covers the up to the full cost of university attendance. Not only did the…
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Show Me the Money: NCAA Agrees to Pay Over $200 Million to Former Student Athletes

In a historic moment, the NCAA agreed to settle a portion of a massive class-action lawsuit earlier this month. The total amount — $208.7 million — was agreed to by the NCAA to remedy student athletes who competed prior to January 2015, when the five major college athletic conferences, including the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12, and Big 12, voted to increase the amount of an athletic scholarship to cover the cost of attending a university. The settlement requires the payment of roughly $6,700 dollars…
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Student-Athlete Attorneys Look to Score in NCAA Concussion Settlement Agreement

On January 13, 2017, attorneys filed a request for $15 million in fees in an Illinois federal court after an early approval of a $75 million settlement by the NCAA for concussion-related health concerns for NCAA student-athletes. The attorneys argued the fee request is reasonable compensation due to the novelty of the case, and their 18,000 hours of attorney-time invested. A hearing is scheduled for May for final approval of the settlement. The multidistrict litigation included an estimated four million former NCAA student-athletes, and $70…
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NCAA Faces Another Concussion Class Action Over Breach of Protective Duty

The NCAA faces another potential class action after several former college football players filed suit in Indiana federal court attacking the organization’s concussion protocol, or lack thereof. Some might say the organization should have seen it coming in light of the modified $75 million dollar medical monitoring settlement the NCAA reached with players last May. The original settlement was modified out of concerns that the settlement would preclude players from bringing individual personal injury claims based on contract principles, and left open the possibility of…
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NCAA Significant Payout Marks a First in a Brain Injury Suit

In 2011, a Division III football player died from an injury he suffered during preseason practice. Almost five years later, the NCAA and Frostburg State settled his family’s wrongful death suit for a “landmark” $1.2 million. The family’s attorney stated, “This is a landmark settlement not just because it is the first brain-injury case that the NCAA has agreed to pay a significant amount of money to resolve, but also because the stakeholders of football are now on notice that they have an obligation to…
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A Marathon, Not a Sprint: NCAA Concussion Settlement Revised Again

A long awaited settlement for NCAA concussion litigation has been revised, once again. The NCAA released the proposal in an effort to address shortfalls in previous settlement plans. The revised settlement, if approved by the court, provides injured student-athletes the option to sue their individual colleges, but only on behalf of players of a single sport. Additionally, the proposal removes a provision that would allow the administrator handling medical monitoring claims to pursue reimbursement from former athletes’ private insurers. The NCAA and lead plaintiffs…
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NCAA Concussions: Judge Signs Off on NCAA Settlement, Subject to Modifications

On January 26, 2016, U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee granted preliminary approval of the $75 million settlement offered by the NCAA in a concussion litigation brought by a class of current and former student-athletes. However, in approving the settlement, the court added certain modifications, which the NCAA will have to accept in order for the agreement to take effect. The proposed NCAA settlement included an agreement to contribute $70 million toward a medical-monitoring fund, which would be used to screen current and former student-athletes…
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