#NFL Concussion Settlement Special Masters have issued a report this morning which appears to be the first of three. The Claims Admin report has also dropped by the BAP Admin report hasn't as of yet.
SM Report PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1vv6P9c…
I didn't see anything particularly earth-shattering in the Special Masters' report but there were a few items of interest.
The Special Masters' report on appeals underscores the importance of Judge Brody's ruling which substantially changed the balances in the settlement when she authorized AAP review on the front end. As you can see, the appellee has prevailed in most instances.
Front-end AAP review will likely result in more denied claims in which players will have to present by clear and convincing evidence they were denied in error instead of NFL appeal of approved claims in which they must prove by clear and convincing evidence the approval was wrong
Special Masters are still considering statute of limitations questions and anticipate briefing to be completed by September 17, 2019.
This is the 1st mention of the Education Fund I've seen since the settlement went into effect. While no details were given as feared, this will probably result in furthering the NFL's mitigation of future litigation issues, & serve to keep a fresh supply of bodies for the NFL.
Veering off topic-but related.
I spoke with a doctor a couple weeks ago who felt he had a promising treatment to alleviate some symptoms that many former players experience that are linked to brain injury. He approached the NFL hoping they would show interest in the treatment...
At first they did seem interested, he said. But sadly their interest wasn't in helping the players. They wanted to know if his work would discredit diagnoses of neurocognitive impairment. When he said, "No," they were no longer interested in talking with him. 😡
Claims Administrator BrownGreer's report covers the period between February 15 and May 13, 2019.
PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1Z45GUF…
143 new claims were submitted during this period.
69% of claims represent a pre-effective date diagnosis;
22% are for post-effective date diagnoses.

78% of post-effective date diagnoses came through the MAF program and 22% through the BAP.
Table 2 shows claim submissions by diagnosis.
852 Notices of Monetary Award have been issued totalling $663,705,780.
713 of these claims have been paid, totalling $499,396,136. The remainder are in various stages of processing, with some still subject to appeal. Table 3 breaks down what's been paid, and to whom.
Table 5 shows approved and paid claims by diagnosis.
"Of the 852 claims with Notices of Monetary Award, 151 (18%) have been appealed (114 by the NFL Parties and 37 by the Settlement Class Member)."

70 Claims await AAP review, but the big story is in the footnotes when Levels 1.5 and 2 are compared with other diagnoses.
Interesting.
Status of claims subject to statute of limitation analysis.
640 claims have been denied, about half of which were based on AAP review that did not accept the diagnosis.
Interesting snip. The neurologist conference was taking place during the same time the oral arguments were held regarding the newly imposed MAF rules.
Table 9 shows the status of MAF Physicians, which continues to shrink. I've had non-affiliated neurologists say that the restrictions on MAF physicians make it very unattractive to doctors considering participation. Gene Locks made proposals to address this that were rejected.
I wrote about his now moot proposals and why they were important here. advocacyforfairnessinsports.org/nfl-concussion…
In other words, non-medical folks assessing doctors. Neuropsychologists second guessing neurologists, and doctors who've never examined the patient overruling those who did.
Audit Report.
While the above stats indicate the level of fraud is much less than generally portrayed, the CA has audited 76 claims multiple times. They shouldn't get multiple bites at the apple to discredit claims; after all, if the NFL finds something problematic, they have a right of appeal
Another interesting footnote. I'm aware that at least some of the players who were examined by Dr. Hoover were re-examined and received the same diagnosis and eventually qualified for an award.
Despite the attention and litigation regarding 3rd party settlement funding assignments, it appears the percentage of players impacted is rather low.
Unclear what they're doing here. Per the 3rd Circuit, only "true assignments" that require payment by the CA would be voidable. All contracts I've seen require the player's attorney to satisfy the debt AFTER the claim is paid, which 3CA said Judge Brody could not control.
BTW, I'm not trying to justify predatory lending practices, however I do object to common benefit funds being spent to litigate a matter that affects relatively few players, since 3rd Circuit said they have the ability to challenge individually, predatory contracts.
Players were told this is a simple process when they were urged to join the settlement.🙄 FAQ's are supposed to be the rules of the road, but they change almost as quickly as the score of a basketball game it seems. The latest changes are detailed in the CA report linked above.
The report also detailed among other things changes and additions to the website as noted below.
On to the BAP Administrator's status report.
PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1x6teFE…
There are currently 324 BAP providers in the program. Almost triple the number of MAF providers.
Despite the presence of 324 BAP providers compared to 130 in the MAF program, and the fact the BAP admin had to send some players out of area for exams, rules restricting MAF appointments to a 150 mile radius w/o prior approval were implemented. 🤔
Almost half of BAP eligible players have opted to participate.
Since the BAP is often viewed as a last resort because of the narrow injury definitions which the BAP provider must strictly abide by, as opposed to the generally consistent standard in the MAF, I find this surprising
Current wait times
This looks a little different than this. Why can't Co-Lead Class Counsel be more forthcoming in the @NFL_Settlement Twitter account?
A few more BAP appointment stats:
Table 4 provides an interesting look at the status of BAP exams.
🚨This is truly alarming!
𝙊𝙛 2,972 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝘼𝙋 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙢, 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 165 (5%) 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙.
For the 100 Players at Level 1, which does not qualify for a monetary award but does merit supplemental benefits, here's a table with the basics. The report provides additional info.........end thread.
Almost end thread, anyway...
Correction: According to the report, 89 players were diagnosed at Level 1 (85 of whom are reflected in the chart.)

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More from @SheillaDingus

Feb 11
🧵Thread🧵
Classic tactics...deflect and change the question...
Fair enough on the first part...however...
If the answers were "on the face of the motion or norming agreement" then obviously the language was unclear. Wasn't this supposed to be about explaining areas that lack clarity?
Read 26 tweets
Jul 27, 2021
I believe @Advocate_Habiba was right. Courts are working as designed, dismissing issues that apparently seem trivial to the panel, preserving the status quo and letting the vulnerable down once again.😡
Patrick is right also. As @TheNeuroTimes said a couple of weeks ago, they'd probably rather be on a spacecraft to Mars than address the systemic problems in the concussion settlement.

A few more thoughts. This law review article hits on some of the shortcomings in this case and within the court system. She is right about procedure. This case was dismissed on procedural grounds allowing the court to avoid the merits.
Read 16 tweets
Mar 4, 2020
In addition to the "correction" for "double-dipping" which will deduct whatever Social Security award players might receive from their NFL disability checks, there are other provisions equally if not more concerning.
First, to clarify, while some disabled players receive as much as $11,500 per month in disability pay and likely receive about $2,000 from Social Security Disability, this is very much on the high end. Others are only getting around $3,000 per month and about $1,200 in SSD.
This would be devastating to the players on the lower end of the scale, reducing them to about $1,800 per month. Beyond this, the new CBA seeks to begin eliminating SSD determinations as automatic approval.
Read 14 tweets
Feb 21, 2020
🚨URGENT THREAD:🚨
The CBA "Fact Sheet" provided by #NFLPA is a joke. It's also the repeat of a common tactic that has led many people to make poor decisions because important details of the actual contract are conveniently omitted.
This was a similar notice or "fact sheet" that went to retired NFL players leading them to believe they'd qualify for concussion settlement benefits that were later denied them. All because it omitted a few vitally important details.
To guys who are thinking the marijuana provision is great, I just got a message from an attorney who called it a "gloss over" and said, "The testing window and nanograms isn’t helpful at all."
Read 5 tweets
Jan 25, 2020
Two #NFL examples come to mind:
First, in Charles Dimry's disability case, Judge Donato found an abuse of discretion and remanded the case back to the Plan with instructions to correct.
Dimry is back in court because the Plan failed to follow those instructions, stating that it "disagreed" with Judge Donato.
His case is now before a magistrate judge that absurdly seems oblivious since magistrates serve at the pleasure of district court judges.
Judge Donato should take charge and issue sanctions, lest the behavior continue unabated.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 20, 2019
"This year alone has seen a 55% increase in reports of sex abuse and other misconduct than last year. That amounts to an average of 239 reports a month... Analysts predict that the number of reports could cap off at 667 per month or 8,000 per year."
We're all familiar with the decades-long abuse of young gymnasts.
bbc.com/news/world-us-…
USA Taekwondo abuse ("Master" Gitelman)
washingtonpost.com/sports/olympic…
Read 15 tweets

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