Dave Pear's Blog

For a normally quiet time in the off-season, there’s a lot going on. Concussion lawsuits continue to be filed and the latest count indicates there may be over 3,000 retired football players who have filed suits against the NFL to date. We also understand that there may be a possible Statute of Limitation deadline coming up shortly and strongly urge that you get signed up with one of the firms soon if you haven’t done so already.
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Let’s start with a Washington Post article on the concussion lawsuits that featured Dr. Daniel Amen:
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NFL concussions lawsuits aim to improve the damaged brain

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Here’s a yearend update from Hausfeld LLP and Zelle Hofmann including articles from disability attorney John Hogan and George Visger.
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We’ve uploaded their newsletter to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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The Voice – NFL Retiree Newsletter, Vol 1, Issue 2
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Both the NFLPA and George Martin’s NFL Alumni have been trying to take credit for everything being offered to retired players from the new CBA. In the meanwhile, they’ve also done their best to ignore what retired players have actually been demanding long before this current CBA while never really putting their cards on the table about what it is that they’ve actually decided for retirees – without their direct input. The Union simply refused to be in the same room while discussions were being held directly with Commissioner Goodell and now they continue to play a let’s-wait-and-see attitude by blaming the League for holding up the final agreement. And they continue to take credit for the wonderful things they’ve done for retirees all while they weren’t a Union (during de-certification!).
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Meanwhile, back at the Alumni ranch, George Martin’s $250,000+ annual salary and bonuses are apparently not enough so he also had to do some endorsement work. George has been driving around in a brand-new $65,000+ Cadillac Platinum Edition Escalade ESV for the last week or so since the Alumni Golf Tournament tweeting all about his praises for his loaner wheels much to the delight of Government Motors. (Read the official NFL Alumni Press Release by clicking HERE.) FOX Sports’ Alex Marvez had a few more words to say about that ride:
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First the serious stuff: One more helmet concussion lawsuit filed in California by Hausfeld LLP and Pearson Simon Warshaw & Penny LLP, on behalf of Cedrick Hardman and Tommy Mason against the NFL, Riddell and Easton-Bell. The two Exhibits include proposals for medical monitoring and benefits after a career in football.
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And we’re not letting the NFLPA off the hook today either: Here’s another good reason for retired players to manage and administer their own benefits: Be sure to read about the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimburse lobby at the end of this post! Oh well – Another day, another $100,000!
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NFLPA 2012 Florida Convention

The NFLPA just announced their 2012 convention to be held once again at the Marco Island Marriott in Florida next March. Retired players are also invited to actually mingle with active players for $250 a night! Lots of golf, fine dining and everything else… except talking about the real issues that retired players actually need to have addressed.
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So with all the lawyers that work over at the NFLPA, it seems that the only thing that gets their attention is another good lawsuit. Today, the attorneys in the earlier Eller suit – Hausfeld LLP, Zelle Hofmann, Arthur N. Bailey & Associates, Coburn & Greenbaum – filed another class action suit on behalf of retired players against the NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith, Tom Brady and Mike Vrabel. The new suit includes a new list of players – Dave is included as one of the named plaintiffs – along with an additional list of key issues that the PA will need to address.
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We’ve uploaded a copy of the new 44-page Lawsuit to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (and just hit the ESC key to close):
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Gault McElhenney Brown Et Al v NFLPA
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