Judge approves revised plan to fix racial bias in NFL concussion settlement
A judge on Friday approved a revised plan that would fix some of the damage done by race-norming in the NFL's massive concussion settlement.
The plan allows Black ex-NFL players who had their concussion claims rejected to have their dementia tests rescored or completely redone — this time without racial bias. The dementia tests originally had race-norming baked right in, meaning that the scores for Black men were adjusted to account for "biological differences."
Race-norming assumes that Black people have a lower level of cognitive function than white people, which made it difficult for retired Black players to show cognitive decline — a key symptom of dementia — when they were tested. It was originally developed as a rough way to account for differences in socioeconomic background, but according to experts who spoke to the Associated Press, it was "never meant to be used to determine payouts in a court settlement."
But it was, and it led to numerous retired Black players having their concussion claims rejected. This new plan gives them a path to a settlement.
Until 2020, it wasn't publicly known that race-norming, a process that was outlawed for governmental use by the Civil Rights Act of 1991, was used in NFL testing. It was exposed in a 2020 racial discrimination lawsuit brought by former NFL players Najeh Davenport and Kevin Henry. While their lawsuit was dismissed, Senior U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody ordered that the race-norming be addressed.
That's how this fix came about. With over 60 percent of living former NFL players being Black, this could add quite a bit more to the NFL's settlement price tag. The league has already paid out over $800 million in concussion settlements, and according to the AP, the ruling allows "thousands" of Black NFL retirees to resubmit their claims, which could add at least $100 million to the tab.
