Advocacy for Fairness in Sports Newsletter August 2019 Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 4:32 AM Share Tweet Forward Dear Friend of Advocacy for Fairness in Sports: I feel a bit like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, running around shouting, "I'm late! I'm late!" Sorry for the slightly overdue newsletter. Much has taken place since last month's newsletter went out and new NFL Concussion Settlement developments continue to pour in. Those will be addressed over the next week or so as well as substantial developments in other cases Advocacy for Fairness in Sports is tracking. The biggest story, however, is that following two months of investigation Advocacy for Fairness in Sports has cracked the NFL's most insidious scheme to date--a plan that seeks to permanently disqualify retired players from ever seeking benefits from the program and worse--to pursue criminal charges against them should any aspect of their claim or condition be misrepresented in the NFL's view. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to see how this is problematic for dementia sufferers who are challenged to remember what they ate for breakfast. You can read our exclusive story below. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=ceec44d1c0&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1642555236498762017&simpl=msg-f%3A16425552364… 1/5 8/22/2019 Gmail - Advocacy for Fairness in Sports Newsletter August 2019 The NFL Wants to Send Former Players to Prison In an investigation that Advocacy for Fairness in Sports has been pursuing for the past two months, we’ve finally obtained evidence of the NFL’s latest bid to stop dementia claims in their tracks and to once and for all, put a lid on the uncapped settlement purposed to compensate players suffering from latent brain injury. The investigation began when I started hearing murmurs about the NFL seeking to permanently disqualify retired players from the settlement if an aspect of their condition had been “misrepresented.” Early efforts to obtain additional information and supporting documents met with roadblocks at every turn, but Advocacy for Fairness in Sports has now obtained documents confirming the NFL’s devious plan. Continue reading... Related to the previous article players suffering from dementia are now being required to fill out comprehensive new forms that are a recipe for disaster, giving the NFL a roadmap of areas in which to target players in their surveillance. We explain in New Concussion Settlement Claims Requirement Is a SetUp For Denial I'm currently putting stories together on several settlement storylines from decisions and briefs that dropped yesterday. Until those are completed, this article, published on Monday explains new developments in the settlement funder saga and how they may impact issues unrelated to loan advances. Since MDL has often been referred to as the "Wild West" of the judiciary, I did a recap of the most notable people and events in the settlement within the framework of a classic western screenplay with lots of Photoshops included. You can click below for the full article, or to jump ahead to the funder developments, you can click here. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=ceec44d1c0&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1642555236498762017&simpl=msg-f%3A16425552364… 2/5 8/22/2019 Gmail - Advocacy for Fairness in Sports Newsletter August 2019 The NFL Concussion Settlement has Devolved into A Wild-West Shootout Imagine you’re watching an old spaghetti western set in a town run by an aging saloon girl. A gang of gunslinging robbers has taken up residence but the saloon girl enjoys their flattery and tells the sheriff to “let them be,” and aside from an occasional flash of bravado he mostly does as he’s asked. There's a subplot running in which a greedy banker is foreclosing on most of the widows in town and those whose husbands have been shot down by the band of outlaws and lay incapacitated. Meanwhile, the settlers who try to hold the marauding outlaws accountable find their homes burning to the ground. The movie’s been running for two hours now and you’re wondering when the cowboy in a white hat is going to ride in and restore order. Or will he? Continue reading... We've also written a few articles about challenges retired NFL players face in trying to collect on their collectively bargained disability benefits. Here's Delvin Williams' story. NFL Disability Pulls Rug From Under a Player Disabled Since 1982 By Sheilla Dingus It’s almost as if a private gladiatorial contest is taking place off the public’s radar—one performed on demand and at the pleasure of the league’s 32 billionaire owners— and with the apparent blessing of the NFLPA. It’s a contest that pits the NFL and NFLPA Plan’s chosen champion, Groom Law Group, against the retired players who return to collect the benefits they bargained for. Delvin Williams is the latest retired player to be forced into the ring. Continue reading... Here's a small sample of our offerings from the past month: Hidden inside the concussion epidemic- Inner ear damage Guest post by Dr. Gerard Gianoli The increasing recognition of concussions by medical practitioners and the population at large is a huge advance https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=ceec44d1c0&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1642555236498762017&simpl=msg-f%3A16425552364… 3/5 8/22/2019 Gmail - Advocacy for Fairness in Sports Newsletter August 2019 for those of us who take care of head-injured patients. Unfortunately, the recognition of a simultaneous inner ear problem was, and still is, routinely missed. Inner ear damage during a concussion is not only common, it is difficult or near impossible to have a concussion WITHOUT having an inner ear injury. After a car accident and a trip to the emergency room, broken bones get set and bleeding gets tended to, but the damage to your inner ear usually doesn’t get noticed. Why? Continue reading... New York Liberty Seek Justice for Women in Prison By Derek Helling For New York’s WNBA team, liberty is much more than a word on the front of their jerseys. “I want to make sure it’s highlighted that 80 percent of women who are incarcerated are mothers,” Tina Charles stated. “From 1980 to 2017, the number of women incarcerated increased by more than 700%, it really shows howimportant this issue is not just for the New York Liberty but for the community...Continue reading... Brain-Damaged Ex-NFLers Defrauded in Multi-Layered Scam By Sheilla Dingus Down on his luck after retiring from the NFL following a 2001 Super Bowl win, and now in his mid-40s, Larry Webster listened carefully as a lawyer in Tallahassee, Florida, told him that he was guaranteed a 6-figure check from the newly inked NFL Concussion Settlement. The plight of Webster and numerous other retired NFLers is told in extraordinary detail in an exclusive investigative report by Law360’s Ryan Boysen. The scheme that Webster and others allegedly fell prey to was a multitiered approach that caught players off guard and took advantage of their vulnerabilities. Continue reading... Note: This was one of the most widely read stories of the past month. It's truly an example of where truth is stranger than fiction, as the elaborate plot to defraud these players unfolds. This is just a small sample of the stories we've published since our last newsletter. To catch up on all our latest you can visit our home page. It also seems like a good time to remind you that we now have an interactive event page where we endeavor to keep our readers posted on sports law symposiums and conferences and other educational events as well as key court dates in the cases we track. We also welcome the addition of other events that may be of interest to our readers, so if you're hosting or speaking at an event, or if you're aware of something we've missed please feel free to add it to our calendar. On a final note, we received our 501(c)(3) approval from the IRS on August 1. As our attorney indicated, our tax exempt status is retroactive to our incorporation date of April 24, 2019. While we're not showing up in the IRS charity search yet (the IRS says it will probably be October or November before summer approvals are added) our status can be verified by calling the IRS and supplying our EIN number: 834527989. We greatly appreciate your support as we seek to provide the investigative sports journalism that the bigger (and more politically motivated) media ignore. If you have a few dollars to spare you can help to support our work by clicking below. 4/5 Best regards, Sheilla Dingus Founder, and President Advocacy for Fairness in Sports Copyright © 2019 Advocacy for Fairness in Sports, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you previously interacted with Advocacy for Fairness in Sports. Our mailing address is: Advocacy for Fairness in Sports 943 E Main Blvd Church Hill, TN 37642 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? If your received this through a forward, you can subscribe or update your preferences here or click here to unsubscribe from this list. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=ceec44d1c0&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1642555236498762017&simpl=msg-f%3A16425552364… 5/5