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A20 SPORTS
Thursday 31 May 2018

Judge considering fraud investigator in NFL concussion case

PHILADELPHIA (AP) awards as high as $5 mil- Three different attorneys
— Lawyers for the NFL lion for the most serious who represent dozens of
urged a federal judge cases. claimants spoke for the
Wednesday to appoint "We are talking about sig- former players Wednesday.
a special investigator to nificant evidence of wide- Two said they objected to
look into what the league spread fraud. We're not the appointment of a spe-
said is extensive fraud in talking about a difference cial investigator with sub-
claims on the $1 billion in medical opinion," said poena power and the ability
concussion settlement. NFL attorney Richard to compel testimony.
NFL attorneys said a study Tarlowe.Tarlowe showed They said the current struc-
by the independent audi- evidence in fraud designa- ture is more than adequate
tors in the claims process tions against eight doctors, for identifying fraud and
showed about 440 claims two law firms and a for- not paying out claims.
were flagged for denial mer player. He focused on They also said the rules that
based on evidence of fraud practices including doctors became effective in Janu-
by attorneys, doctors or for- seeing players for evalua- ary 2017 including the ap-
mer players. Lawyers rep- tion not in clinical settings, proved physicians list will
resenting the former play- but in hotel rooms, law of- greatly reduce the opportu-
ers and their estates said In this May 23, 2018, file photo, NFL commissioner Roger fices or other places. He nity for fraudulent claims.
most of the opportunity for Goodell gestures while speaking during the NFL owner's spring also cited a doctor who said League lawyers said inves-
meeting in Atlanta.
fraud has been resolved be- Associated Press she spent seven to 12 hours tigating the fraud claims
cause anyone filing a claim evaluating each patient, has contributed to the
after the settlement's effec- solved thousands of law- who develop Lou Gehrig's but approved sometimes slower determinations and
tive date has to see a neuro- suits that accused the NFL disease, dementia or oth- as many as eight patients a awarding of money for le-
specialist from a list of ap- of hiding what it knew er neurological problems day. gitimate claims. Plaintiffs'
proved certified physicians. about the risks of repeated believed to be caused by "That's physically impos- attorneys have said the set-
The settlement, which took concussions. concussions suffered dur- sible based on how long she tlement process is moving
effect January 2017, re- It covers retired players ing their pro careers, with said it takes," he said. too slowly.q