27 Jul Former Tennessee Titans Take Hit Under New Workers
By: Walter F. Roche – The Tennessean
It was only a practice session, but when Titans defensive end Shawn Johnson moved in to tackle a rookie running back, he knew right away he was seriously injured.
Though he eased up in reaction to the pain, the rookie kept coming with full force.
“It was horrific,” said Johnson, who said he could see the ball joint of his shoulder bulging through the skin.
Johnson was first drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2004, but after a knee injury there, he signed on as a free agent with the Titans the next year. But his football career came to an abrupt end during training camp on July 31, 2005.
Johnson says the only way he has been able to survive is from the workers’ compensation claim he filed with the state of Tennessee, which netted a one-time award payment of $230,000. But changes in workers’ compensation, both in Tennessee and around the country, have created new challenges for workers seeking help, including former pro athletes.
Records show that some two dozen former Titans have filed such claims in Tennessee, while many more have sought compensation in California because it has more worker-friendly compensation laws. Some of the former Titans are well known, including Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Bruce Matthews.
Others, like Johnson, suffered career-ending injuries without playing in a single regular-season game. He now lives in upstate New York.
Johnson’s lawyer and officials with the NFL Players Association say some NFL owners are working to reduce or eliminate the rights of injured professional athletes to collect workers’ compensation benefits. Those efforts have played out in state legislatures in California, North Carolina, Arizona and most recently in Louisiana, where an effort by the New Orleans Saints failed just over a month ago.
“Athletes are being singled out,” said George Atallah, assistant executive director of external affairs for the NFL Players Association. “The owners are fighting to take away a benefit that the players have a right to, just like any other worker.”
The Titans declined to comment on the matter, referring The Tennessean to court filings in the cases.
Cut in benefits
In Tennessee, all workers seeking compensation face substantial cuts in benefits since a new law took effect July 1. Under the revised statute, employees will no longer have the right to appeal decisions in the state court system. Factors that could boost benefits based on the severity and longevity of the injury were removed from the law.
A. Gregg Ramos, the Nashville attorney who filed Johnson’s claim and several others for former players, said those changes will hurt his Titan clients’ ability to be paid for their injuries.
“The changes will make Tennessee even more business-friendly,” said Ramos, who has filed claims on behalf of more than a dozen injured Titans.
Lawyers for the owners have stated in court filings that the players, under the current collective bargaining agreement, are required to have any such claims handled through arbitration.
The players association recently moved to link the owners’ proposal for an expanded playoff schedule to improvements in workers’ compensation coverage. The expanded playoffs are expected to be initiated in 2015.
Records show Johnson was awarded $230,000 in 2007 after doctors concluded he suffered an 80 percent permanent partial impairment to his shoulder. The team’s insurance company paid $14,309 in medical bills for Johnson.
Johnson says he has been unable to work because of the injury. He says he still gets uncontrollable spasms in his right arm.
Ramos said injured players often have their careers cut short before they have earned substantial salaries. Johnson went on injured reserve and collected $230,000, the league minimum salary for a single NFL season.
Former players turn to California
While Johnson’s career ended early, other former Titans who have sought workers’ compensation are well known.
Bruce Matthews, a 19-year veteran who appeared in 14 Pro Bowls, is one of more than 60 former players for the Titans and its predecessor team, the Houston Oilers, who have tried to collect workers’ compensation in California, where the law is more receptive to workers’ claims.
Under California law, Ramos said, it’s still easier for players to file claims for cumulative injuries.
Matthews’ California claim was turned down by an arbitrator, a decision upheld in federal court. The decisions made note of the fact that Matthews played only 13 games in California and that he did not claim that any specific injury occurred in that state.
The Titans subsequently filed suit in California to force some 60 former Oilers and Titans to have their claims decided under Tennessee law. The judge last year granted the motion to uphold the arbitrator’s decision.
Lawyers for the owners and the Titans have argued successfully thus far that a player does not have the right to file a claim in another state but must file in the home state of his team.
Lawyers for the players association, meanwhile, have charged that the NFL owners failed to report their injuries to the state as required by law.
Some Titan workers’ compensation awards
Darren J. Evans: $32,240
Ken Amato: $155,000
Dave Ball: $142,000
Matt Mauch: $90,024
Aaron Francisco: $72,540
Casey Cramer: $70,370
Fernando Velasco: $46,140
Peter Sirmon: $85,250
David Givens: $5,115
Gerald McRath: $55,230
Kevin Mawae: $114,000
Shawn Johnson: $230,000