Voices
The gross settlement proceeds
will not provide meaningful financial compensation to the vast majority of players who have suffered
and will continue to suffer the lifelong consequences of brain trauma.
The settlement excludes players
who died from their brain injuries
before 2006 and only provides
compensation to players diagnosed
with “severe cognitive impairment.” A “mild” brain injury is only
mild if it is someone else’s brain,
and those players are also excluded
from this settlement. The settlement does not provide lifelong
reimbursement of medical or rehabilitation care. Are the settlement
proceeds intended to compensate
players for their cognitive, emotional and behavioral deficits that
will plague them for the remainder
of their lives, or for necessary medical treatment? The brains of these
players will not spontaneously and
miraculously recover.
Further, to be effective, the
recently enacted safety rules
must be enforced by significant penalties not only on players who violate the rules, but
more significantly on teams and
coaches who implicitly condone
barbaric behavior. If real reform
is sought, guaranteed contracts
MICHAEL V. KAPLEN
AND SHANA DE CARO
HUFFINGTON
10.20.13
that provide financial compensation for injured players would
help to eliminate the stigma and
economic disincentive of admitting concussion symptoms.
Likewise, the paltry $10 million
dollars allocated to brain injury
research is not calculated to pro-
Goodell’s unbelievable
contention that the league
has acted in good faith and
has not misled the players
flies in the face of reality.”
duce meaningful results.
We are in complete agreement,
however, with Commissioner
Goodell’s declaration that, “I don’t
think we can ever do enough for
our players.” Certainly the league
hasn’t so far. The proposed settlement fails to provide meaningful
justice for these players who have
sacrificed their brains for
the profits of the league.
Michael V. Kaplen and Shana De
Caro are partners in the New York
law firm, De Caro & Kaplen, LLP
which concentrates their legal
practice on representing victims
of brain trauma.