Watch for official announcement: Our Second Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference April 20 - 22 at the South Point in Las Vegas. - NFL Claims Workers’ Compensation Should Cover Players’ Head Injuries - FOX: Head-trauma Lawsuits Against NFL Swell - NY Times: Giants Beat Patriots in Final Rally 21 - 17 - NJ.com: Izenberg: At Super Bowl, John Mackey's widow speaks out against a cruel, arbitrary NFL rule - FOX: NFL to air Super Bowl ad on player safety - FOX Sports: 4 NFL concussion lawsuits being combined in Philadelphia - SportingNews: Concussion lawsuits could be tip of crisis for NFL

To all retired players:
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On Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. your case will be argued against the NFLPA in front of Judge Susan Nelson in St. Paul, Minnesota. The NFLPA filed a Motion to Dismiss and this hearing will be to determine if your case is dismissed.
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If you will recall, in September and October of 2011, 47 former NFL players, including 27 Hall of Famers (26 of whom who are listed in the NFL’s official encyclopedia as 300 of the greatest players in NFL history), representing every decade in pro football since the 1940′s, filed a class action lawsuit against the NFLPA. The class representatives represent virtually every position in football, and every category of NFL player – including vested, non-vested, Hall of Famers, forgotten players, and legends of the game. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of all former NFL players and seeks to increase the retirement benefits of all players – vested and non-vested
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The NFLPA is asking that your case be dismissed against them. We will argue that your case deserves to be heard by a jury.
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It would be great if the Judge could see a courtroom of retired players who are all in support of having your case get heard by a jury. So if you are available to make it to Minnesota to attend the hearing, I ask that you mark it on your schedule and come show your support for your case. It is particularly important that you attend if you live locally.
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The address is below. Please let me know if you plan to attend. Thanks.
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Best regards,
Shawn D. Stuckey, Esq.
(former NFL player – New England Patriots, Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 1:30 p.m.
Courtroom 7B
United States District Court
774 Federal Building
316 North Robert Street
St. Paul, MN 55106
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(Eller/Bednarik et. al, v. NFLPA and Gault/McElhenney et. al, v. NFLPA) Case No. 11-CV-2623 SRN/JJG (D. Minn.)
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Larry Kaminski has been keeping us updated on his battle against the Denver Broncos filed in California under their Workers Compensation laws. The Broncos current ownership is trying to have their case heard and dismissed in Federal Court based on their claim that when they bought the team, they only acquired the assets and not the liabilities (yes, just when you don’t think it can get any dumber). Read the earlier post – click HERE.
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Here’s a short update from Larry for those of you also going through Workers Compensation cases or considering that as an option:
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Fellow Independent Retired Players:
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Posted with the express consent of Evan Weiner:

THE BUSINESS AND POLITICS OF SPORTS
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NFL and NFLPA’s labor woes may not be over yet

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Tuesday, 02 August 2011
BY EVAN WEINER
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
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The National Football League owners have a labor agreement with the present members of the reconstituted National Football League Players Association but it appears that the league still has problems with the players association’s stance on not helping out former players with their medical needs years after their last game in the league. The league apparently informed Carl Eller’s legal team on Friday that the-then decertified National Football League Players Association decided not to take a $500 million offer over ten-years to get retirees life football medical benefits and an uptick in pensions as part of the recently completed collective bargaining agreement.
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 John WelbournHi Dave -

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Stepping Up to the Plate

4 December 2009

This piece just arrived from The Boston Globe’s Ron Borges. Mixed in between the lines on the great news about a quarterback- Tom Brady – finally breaking ranks with his counterparts is another completely separate story: It’s one of the best outlines detailing some of the sordid history of side deals that set the stage for the upcoming lockout. You couldn’t make this stuff up!

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