NFL TO PAY OUT $765 MILLION TO SETTLE CONCUSSION LAWSUITS

With just a week to go before the start of the 2013 football season and less than two weeks before the airing of a PBS documentary on head injuries that could result in major changes to how the game is played, the National Football League agreed on Thursday to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit filed by more than 4,500 players who claim that the football organization systematically concealed information that it received from researchers about the dangers of repeated concussions. As today’s (Friday) New York Times observed, the settlement was actually regarded as a victory for the NFL, which faced the possibility of having to pay out billions of dollars if the players prevailed in court. Players currently employed by NFL teams are not affected by the settlement. Lawyers for the players who sued indicated that they were willing to settle so that those in need of treatment can get it at once and not have to stand by while the case wound its way through the legal system. “The big picture was we got immediate care to the retired players, and I think we accomplished that,” Christopher Seeger, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Times.