Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

Calif. Court Denies NFL's Attempt To Litigate Lawsuit There Pertaining To Concussion Cases

The California state Appeals Court yesterday denied an NFL effort to litigate in the Golden State a lawsuit brought by insurers against the league seeking to avoid paying for potential liability tied to the concussion cases brought by thousands of retired players. The league had wanted to try the insurance case in California, seeing the forum as more friendly and efficient, while the insurers wish to keep a lawsuit in New York state court proceeding. “The record also shows that [the NFL has its] headquarters in New York, run their operations from there, brokered the majority of their insurance policies from there, have their important documents and key executives there and have personnel involved in this coverage litigation employed there,” the court decision said. A lower California state court ruled similarly in November '12, but the NFL appealed. The New York court has let part of the insurers lawsuit to proceed, which the NFL appealed earlier this month to a higher New York court. At stake is billions of dollars, the amount the NFL could be on the hook for if the retirees were to receive favorable judgments. Litigation costs are expected to reach into the nine figures. There are 187 policies covering a period stretching back six decades that are at issue. According to the court, the policies from before '77 have not been found. “Prior to 1977, [the] NFL relied primarily on California-based insurance brokers and offices,” the decision said. “It is expected that some or all policies from that era, which are yet to be located, were issued through California brokers and/or to California-based NFL entities.” The missing policy issue is magnified now with the case getting tried in New York. California law allows an insured company like the NFL to extrapolate from a given policy year claims stretching over a much longer term. By contrast, New York law, under which the case now proceeds, requires the policyholder to pro-rate the liability over each year of the coverage period -- so if a policy is missing, that could lead to loss of coverage for that year.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/05/29/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2013/05/29/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/NFL.aspx

CLOSE