The family of NFL star Junior Seau has settled its wrongful death lawsuit against the league over the San Diego linebacker’s 2012 suicide.
The confidential settlement comes after the family opted out of the NFL concussion settlement covering more than 20,000 retired players, which pays up to US$4 million to families of men like Seau, who were found after their deaths to have the brain deterioration chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The youngest of Seau’s four children recently turned 18, family lawyer Steven Strauss said.
Seau’s older children include a daughter who works at ESPN and a son who plays lacrosse at Duke University, Strauss added.
Seau was 43 when he died six years ago.
“I’m glad that it’s resolved for them now so they can move on with their lives,” Strauss said on Friday, when notice of the settlement was filed in federal court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the NFL concussion cases are being handled.
“It took a long time. That was frustrating, but it was successfully settled, and that’s good,” Strauss said.
The broader settlement provides up to US$4 million for a death involving CTE. Payments as of Monday had been awarded in 66 of the 86 CTE claims filed, according to a report.
Lawyers for the players expect payouts to top US$1.4 billion over 65 years for the six qualifying conditions, which also include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.
The claims panel has approved more than US$500 million in awards and paid out about US$330 million to date, the report showed.
Lawyers have complained that the process is moving slowly, especially for the dementia cases.
The players’ lawsuits accused the NFL of concealing known concussion risks.
The first tentative agreement in the case was reached in 2013. A small number of plaintiffs, including the Seaus, opted out to pursue individual lawsuits.
Lawyers for the Seau children objected, because the settlement does not pay wrongful death claims to survivors for their pain and loss.
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