A federal judge yesterday granted preliminary approval to an "amended settlement between the NCAA and a group of college athletes who sued how the association handled concussions," according to Jon Solomon of CBSSPORTS.com. U.S. District Judge John Lee's approval "came with one significant change that in part has delayed resolving the case." The athletes could "still sue their university and the NCAA as a class under certain terms." The settlement would "release all class-wide claims relating to concussions, subconcussive hits or contact." Current and former college athletes could "still sue for personal injuries or class claims that don't relate to medical monitoring or medical treatment of concussions, subconcussive hits or contact." Both parties "must still agree to amendments in the settlement." The litigation "was originally filed" in '11 by former Eastern Illinois football player Adrian Arrington. Additional cases "became consolidated with Arrington, who later opposed the settlement because individual athletes aren't getting paid medical costs." The settlement would "create a 50-year medical monitoring program" at $70M to "cover diagnostic medical expenses for athletes, not their actual treatment" (CBSSPORTS.com, 1/26). In N.Y., Ben Strauss notes regardless of the NCAA's decision on Lee’s terms, Jay Edelson, a plaintiffs’ lawyer who "opposed the initial settlement, said he was now looking into filing a new round of class-action suits against the NCAA and individual universities over their handling of concussions" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/27).
BAD MEDICINE: Last night’s edition of HBO’s “Real Sports” examined the state of medical care student-athletes receive while in school. The report included the medical treatment former Illinois OL Simon Cvijanovic received at school, with Cvijanovic stating he was told by the team doctor he had ‘tears” in both shoulders, “but we’re not going to get it looked at now. We’re going to get it looked at after the season.” HBO’s Jon Frankel asked, “Why did he say if you had tears that you would look at it after the season?” Cvijanovic: “So I could play.” He said there was “no doubt” coaches and the medical staff were “in cahoots” to get players on the field. Meanwhile, the story of Frostburg St. FB Derek Sheely was told. Sheely was pressured to re-enter practice despite complaining he was injured. He subsequently collapsed and died. His father, Ken Sheely, said, “An NCAA athlete got killed at an NCAA event and they didn’t even reach out to us and give us condolences. They didn’t reach out and do their own investigation to determine what could be done. If somebody gets an extra cookie on a recruiting trip, the NCAA has 10 people that can investigate it and sanction the player or the school. But someone gets killed playing an NCAA event and they can’t even go out and investigate it?” Frankel said, “NCAA players, of course, have little ability to change the system, lacking the rights to unionize or bargain” (“Real Sports,” HBO, 1/26).
