What’s Really Going On Here?
Wow! What’s a poor guy have to do just to get one straight answer around here?
When Dave sent of that letter to AON Corp. President/CEO Gregory Case (click HERE to read that post), we also made sure to CC: copies to several state Attorneys General as well as state Insurance Commissioners who may have direct or indirect jurisdiction over such matters. The responses are still coming in and one of the more interesting ones came from Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (click HERE to read his letter) who stated, “I agree with you that you should have received a copy of your disability policy describing the benefits and obligations that pertain to beneficiaries.”
What’s interesting is that Dave has yet to receive a direct answer to his letter from AON even though it was sent out back on September 25th! And Dave had informed Mr. Case in his letter that he was also inquiring as a shareholder in AON Corp.! Instead, the lawyers got all over it and responded to inquiries from the various state agencies while never once so much as responding directly to Dave. Of course, those letters also attempted to dismiss Dave’s simple inquiry for information as “mischaracterization.”
So it wasn’t too much of a surprise when the NFL’s law firm – our good friends over at Akin Gump – also jumped into the fray by writing to Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal. (Mr. Blumenthal must be a pretty popular guy from what we can gather.) What did surprise us however was how the NFL had their attorneys get involved (we thought this was supposed to be an NFLPA problem). And the real surprise was the amount of paperwork that Larry Lamade (senior partner at Akin Gump) was able to provide directly to the Attorney General. Dave’s been asking his union, the NFLPA, for copies of much of this stuff for years. But when the big guys start to get interested, suddenly EVERYONE seems to jump on board and old documents seem to mysteriously re-appear rather quickly. We love it! And how is it that the NFL’s law firm manages to access Dave’s personal benefits file – AND send it all along to the Attorney General of Connecticut? Could it be that this whole benefits policy is such a hot potato that it’s got everyone’s attention suddenly?
Here’s the letter from Larry Lamade to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (click on each page to enlarge it for easier reading):
And here are the attachments (with key points outlined in RED):
And all Dave had really inquired about was his disability benefit! In his letter to AON President Gregory Case, he politely asks him to direct him to anyone who might be able to help him if they weren’t the people responsible for this benefit. Instead, so far he’s gotten accused of “mischaracterization,” had his benefits files accessed and distributed, and not even been given the simple courtesy of a simple answer or assistance in seeing a true written copy of his death benefit, regardless of whether it’s an insurance policy or a benefit rider. We think any retired player with benefits deserves to have a copy of this benefit so their spouse can eventually benefit from this – um, benefit (?). How many of you other guys opted for this death benefit and are there any widows out there who have actually received any continuing benefits?
P.S. – Speaking of surviving spouses, we recently read a very sad tale from the Kerrville Daily News about Suzie Heywood, widow of old-timer Ralph Heywood (Ralph played for the Detroit Lions, the Boston Yanks, and the New York Bulldogs – back in 1947-49!). (You can read the entire article by clicking HERE.) Does anyone believe that Suzie Heywood will ever receive even so much as a token death benefit from the NFLPA?
