A New York state court judge has postponed a key hearing at the NFL’s request in the simmering lawsuit between the league and its insurers over whether the carriers are responsible for covering part of the pending roughly $1B concussion settlement, a lawyer for the NFL said. The insurers, which filed their lawsuit against the NFL in '12, strongly urged the judge earlier this week not to postpone tomorrow’s scheduled hearing. The hearing would have been the forum for the sides to begin setting parameters on discovery that the insurers wish to conduct on what the NFL knew and when about the long term risks of concussions.
John Hall, the NFL outside counsel who wrote the state court judge Tuesday urging him to postpone the hearing because the underlying concussion settlement was still on appeal, emailed THE DAILY that the hearing has been adjourned until April 29. The insurance companies urged Judge Jeffrey Oing to keep the hearing, arguing they had waited long enough to make their case that they did not have to fund part of the settlement.
