Page 14 - aruba-today-20220305

A14 sports
Saturday 5 March 2022
Judge approves fix to stem race bias in NFL concussion deal

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Black cant, and potentially costly
retired football players who for the NFL.
were denied payments for The agreement to end
dementia in the NFL's $1 bil- race-norming follows
lion concussion settlement months of closed-door ne-
can seek to be retested or gotiations between lawyers
have their claims rescored for the NFL, the class coun-
to eliminate racial bias in sel for the nearly 20,000
the testing and payout for- retired players, and Smith
mula, under a revised plan and others representing
finalized Friday. Davenport and Henry.
Outrage over the use of Ken Jenkins and his wife,
"race-norming" in the de- Amy Lewis, have also
mentia testing — which as- fought for the changes,
sumed that Black people gathering thousands of pe-
have a lower cognitive titions and pressing the Civil
baseline score, making it Rights Division of the Justice
harder for them to show Department to investigate
mental declines linked to the alleged discrimination.
football — forced the NFL The binary scoring system
and players' lawyers back used in dementia testing —
to the negotiating table one for Black people, one
last year. for everyone else — was
The revisions could allow Former NFL players Ken Jenkins, right, and Clarence Vaughn III, center right, along with their developed by neurologists
wives, Amy Lewis, center, and Brooke Vaughn, left, carry tens of thousands of petitions demand-
many retired players to ing equal treatment for everyone involved in the settlement of concussion claims against the NFL, in the 1990s as a crude way
resubmit their claims and to the federal courthouse in Philadelphia, Friday, May 14, 2021. to factor in a patient's so-
add $100 million or more to Associated Press cioeconomic background.
the NFL's legal tab. The NFL, Experts say it was never
through the fund, has paid problem. She approved In one recent ruling that diagnosis (of dementia)," meant to be used to de-
out more than $800 million the negotiated changes in shows the difficulty fami- said Hoffman, an expert termine payouts in a court
to date, nearly half for de- an order filed Friday. lies have faced navigating in contract law at the Uni- settlement.
mentia claims. The demen- More than 3,300 former the claims process, the re- versity of Pennsylvania law However, it was adopted
tia awards average about players or their families viewer bemoaned the long school. by both sides in the 2015
$600,000. have sought awards for delays experienced by the The player, a Black man settlement that resolved
"Thousands of Black players brain injuries linked to their widow of a former player who was 57 when he died, lawsuits accusing the NFL
stand to benefit from these playing days, more than found after his 2019 death also had his scores normed of hiding what it knew
changes to the settlement," 2,000 of them for moderate to have advanced CTE, or to account for his race, about the risk of repeated
said lawyer Cyril V. Smith, to advanced dementia. chronic traumatic enceph- age, education and other concussions.
who represents former The dementia cases have alopathy. factors, in keeping with the The 65-year settlement also
players Najeh Davenport proven the most conten- His medical records show protocols used at the time. grants financial awards to
and Kevin Henry, whose tious, and only 3 in 10 claims "progressive cognitive de- According to Hoffman, his ex-players with Alzheimer's
2020 race discrimination have been paid to date. cline and unrebutted evi- claim would not qualify for disease, Parkinson's disease
lawsuit brought the issue to Another one-third have dence that he suffered an award even if his tests and Amyotrophic Lateral
light. been denied, and the rest from CTE at the time of his were rescored under the Sclerosis. It does not cover
Senior U.S. District Judge remain in limbo, often as death," reviewer David new race-blind formula. CTE — which some call
Anita B. Brody in Philadel- the claim goes through Hoffman wrote. The vast majority of the the signature disease of
phia, who has overseen several layers of review by "But those diagnoses, and league's players — 70% of football — except for men
the NFL concussion case the claims administrator, the supporting medical re- active players and more diagnosed with it posthu-
for a decade, dismissed medical and legal consul- cords, do not fit into the set- than 60% of living retirees — mously before April 2015,
their lawsuit but ordered tants, audit investigators tlement's prescribed boxes are Black. So the changes a deadline set to avoid in-
the parties to address the and judges. for the claimed qualifying are expected to be signifi- centivizing suicides.q

Kentucky racing board upholds Bob

Baffert's suspension

Spirit that led to his dis- ceased colt for having the Wingate.
qualification as Kentucky corticosteroid betametha- Clark Brewster, an attorney
Derby winner. sone in his system last May. for Baffert, argued that the
Kentucky Horse Racing Betamethasone is allowed steroid came from a topi-
Commission board mem- in Kentucky but prohibited cal ointment rather than
bers on Friday voted 10-0 on race day. an injection. KHRC general
with three abstentions Director Marc A. Guilfoil counsel Jennifer Wolsing

Trainer Bob Baffert stands outside his barn at Churchill Downs against the stay in a spe- denied an initial request to countered that the source
Monday, May 2, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. cially called meeting. stay the suspension, which of the betamethasone
Associated Press KHRC stewards last week was scheduled to start on was irrelevant and cited
suspended the Hall of March 8 but is delayed Baffert's failure to keep
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Baffert's request to stay his Fame trainer for 90 days pending a March 17 hear- promises to improve his
Kentucky racing officials suspension for a failed pos- with a $7,500 fine and ing before Franklin Coun- operation after a series of
have denied trainer Bob trace drug test by Medina disqualified the now-de- ty Circuit Judge Thomas positives by his horses.q