Former NFL player Haruki Nakamura’s lawsuit against insurer Lloyd’s of London for denying a $1 million policy for his career-ending concussion injury could affect how insurance companies charge football players moving forward, and whether concussions should be excluded in such policies or otherwise.
Nakamura filed the lawsuit Monday in North Carolina after Lloyd’s and its underwriters denied his bid to claim on his $1 million policy. According to the lawsuit, Nakamura suffered a severe concussion while playing for the Carolina Panthers against the Pittsburgh Steelers in August 2013.
“I think it has the potential to be very significant with respect to how players are able to secure these policies and how the insurers treat these policies on the front end,” Tulane University sports law program director Gabriel Feldman told
The Washington Post.
“It presents a lot of different scenarios for actuarial calculations and risk management. It threatens another avenue for NFL players to be able to protect themselves as it becomes increasingly clear that playing football presents some level of risk to the brain over time for a growing number of players. Players are recognizing that risk and some are retiring earlier. Some are taking other precautions.”
“[Concussions] may become the leading career-ending injury,” said John Schryber, Nakamura’s attorney.
Schryber also questioned Lloyd’s denial of Nakamura’s claim, despite the player’s team, the NFL, and even an independent medical examiner all agreeing that Nakamura’s injury was career-ending.
“For a disability insurer to deny coverage for damage caused by a concussion would be like the issuer of a homeowner’s policy denying coverage for damage caused by a fire,” he remarked.
Lloyd’s of London’s denial called into question whether Nakamura was suffering from post-concussion syndrome, if he was suffering from such was it solely attributable to the injury he received on that Aug. 2013 game, and whether he could return to the NFL.
Nakamura seeks $3 million in the lawsuit to cover damages, costs, legal fees, and interest.
“Certainly the outcome [of the lawsuit] could impact the cost of these policies and how they’re written,” Feldman argued. “This may be a preview of things to come. This affects another layer of the protection for these athletes who have such frighteningly short careers.”
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