Dave Pear's Blog

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Whew! It looks like the end is finally in sight. This past Tuesday, Oct. 12th, Judge Alsup signed the official order to release the remaining proceeds from the GLA Players Inc. lawsuit, along with an amended order allowing McKool Smith to be reimbursed for their inadvertent partial payment of a Garden City Group invoice. Here’s a little shocker from the final order: 76 of the 200+ missing players were actually located using Social Security information and forms were sent to them to fill out and return in the court-ordered 4-week window. But only 32 of those players managed to return their paperwork before the deadline while three other “missing” players contacted the class attorneys on their own in the meantime. So they’ll also be included in the final disbursement. And two widows of players who passed away while all of this was going on will also be included in the final payout.

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NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith did not show up this morning for a one-day Sports Law Symposium at Santa Clara Law (click HERE to see today’s schedule) at which he was to participate on a concussions panel. The panel was focused on Athletic, Legal, Medical and Moral Issues of concussions. Other members on the panel included Disability Attorney John Hogan, Craig de Recat (partner with Manatt Phelps & Philips, lead attorneys – Players Inc. GLA lawsuit), New York Times journalist Alan Schwarz, Jim Brown (NFL Hall of Fame), Michael Dillingham (former team doctor – San Francisco 49ers) and Ben Lynch (retired NFL player and advocate). Everyone else showed up.

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EDITOR’S NOTE:

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On Thursday, July 29th, the Circuit Court in San Francisco under Judge Alsup issued a decision on how to distribute the remaining funds that are still owed to the 2,062 retired players who were part of the Players Inc. GLA lawsuit. The first checks had gone out earlier this year and the second checks were scheduled to be sent out by the end of July but it was pointed out that there were still around 200 players who have not been located from the original list. The earlier plan was to pro-rate the remaining funds and simply add the money to the second checks. However, an extension was added in February to give some of the missing players more time to get their names and contact information in to the people administering the fund. 25 – 30 more players did manage to sign up to receive their first checks and there were still 200+ players who still haven’t signed in at this time.

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On November 23, 2009, in San Francisco, California, Federal District Court Judge William Alsup rendered a blistering set of three orders approving the settlement agreement in Parrish & Adderley vs. NFLPA Players Inc. However, in rendering the orders, Judge Alsup said of the award of attorneys’ fees, “When combined with the expense reimbursement below, counsel is receiving approximately 25 percent of the value of the settlement. This figure adequately compensates counsel for the work performed in this action. A reasonable fee in light of the ultimate recovery obtained for the class, and is reasonable in light of the missed opportunity for an even higher recovery.”

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