More Black NFL retirees win dementia cases in rescored tests following $1B settlement

Two years after a pair of former players sued the NFL over the treatment of Black retirees in the league's $1 billion US concussion settlement, hundreds of men whose medical tests were rescored to eliminate race bias now qualify for awards.

The newly approved payouts, announced in a report Friday, are a victory for NFL families in the decade-long legal saga over concussions. The 2020 lawsuit unearthed the fact the dementia tests were being "race-normed" — adjusted due to assumptions that Black people have a lower cognitive baseline score. Changes to the settlement made last year are meant to make the tests race-blind.

The new results will add millions to the NFL's payouts for concussion-linked brain injuries. A league spokesman did not return a phone call Friday or respond to emails sent in recent weeks seeking comment on the rescoring.

Former players, lawyers and advocates say they'll now turn to getting the word out to more players who could receive awards.

"Our work has produced some great results and has opened many eyes," said Ken Jenkins, a former Washington player who, along with his wife, petitioned the federal judge overseeing the settlement to make the changes and urged the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to investigate. "Now we're really focused on getting as many players who deserve compensation to be compensated."

This first group of players had the best chance of success because they otherwise passed the testing protocols and would have qualified if they were white. Thousands of other Black former players can ask to be rescored or retested, but their cases might not be as strong based on earlier results on dementia, validity and impairment tests. About 70 percent of active players and 60 percent