Insurance companies suing the NFL are looking to force the disclosure of information from NFL-affiliated doctors for potential evidence of the NFL’s prior knowledge of concussion risks.
According to a report from L.A. Biz Journal, the insurance companies are seeking information from four former doctors and one current doctor. The insurers are exploring the possibility of canceling the NFL’s coverage—arguing it would count as fraud—if the documents reveal what and how much the league knew about the risks of traumatic head injury. If the doctors are ordered to provide the documents, they would be the first people with league affiliation to be subject to legal discovery regarding head trauma, according to the report.
According to the report, the documents that could be in play are reported to contain communications between the league, players, and the special committees that the five doctors served on. The NFL has agreed to billions of dollars in settlements for numerous claims from former players. The league is relying on insurance money to pay at least part of that sum, and if the insurers win a fraud argument and cancel coverage, that would take a chunk out of the league’s bottom line.
The report adds that while most of the requested documents are from the mid 2000s, the insurers are also seeking documentation surrounding the NFL’s attempts in 2015 to block the National Institutes of Health from granting funding to a doctor who criticized the league.
The judge has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday morning regarding why the doctors should not have to comply with the requests.
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SportTechie Takeaway
This is big news in that it brings a threat against the NFL of revealing documentation that would do harm to the NFL’s public perception surrounding safety and concussion risk.
In 2016, the NFL promised to place $100 million into concussion research and funding for safety improvements, and it has worked with several technology companies to make safer helmets that minimize concussion risk. The league’s own research revealed in November that the NFL could move to implement helmet requirements that are specific to each position on the football field; cornerbacks and wide receivers are often at greater risk of potentially concussive hits.
Obviously none of these safety steps would be particularly convincing in the courtroom and the court of public perception should the insurers successfully force disclosure of documents that show what and how much the NFL knew about player safety and the risks of serious head injury.