The NFL is seeking to halt potential discovery of what it knew about the risks of playing football as part of an ongoing litigation between the league and its insurers, who are seeking to avoid covering the concussion settlement that applies to thousands of former players. A New York state Supreme Court judge ordered on April 29 for discovery to begin, and gave the insurers and league two weeks to reach agreement on how to proceed. The two sides sued each other over coverage claims related to the concussion settlement.
In court filings today, the NFL wrote, “Under controlling New York law, proceedings concerning an insurer’s duty to indemnify a policyholder for judgments or settlements paid must be stayed pending final resolution of the underlying litigation where there are overlapping issues, as there plainly are here. Under this jurisdictional rule, the Court has no discretion to permit indemnity proceedings to commence in this coverage litigation because the underlying class-action settlement is not yet final.”
The league is requesting of the New York state Supreme Court a stay of its discovery order pending NFL appeal to a higher court. The league wants the insurance case stayed until all appeals of the underlying concussions settlement are exhausted and all individual cases brought by players who opted out of the settlement are completed.
