A Representative Claimant is an authorized representative, ordered by a court or other official of competent jurisdiction under applicable state law, of a deceased, legally incapacitated or incompetent Retired NFL Football Player. There are two ways to be authorized as the Representative Claimant:
(a) Proof of Appointment: You can submit a copy of an order or other document showing that a state court or other official has appointed you as the representative of the Player. For a legally incapacitated or incompetent Player, you can also submit a copy of a “durable” or “springing” power of attorney (“POA”) signed by the Player and naming you as authorized to act for him if he became legally incapacitated or incompetent. A POA is not sufficient to show authority to act on behalf of a deceased Player.
(b) Centralized Appointment Process in the Federal Court: If you do not have the documents identified in (a), you can be appointed by the federal court overseeing this Settlement Program. However, to take advantage of this process, the Player or Representative Claimant for whom you are acting must have started registering on or before the August 7, 2017 Registration Deadline. To use this process, send the following documents to the Claims Administrator:
(1) A completed Petition for Appointment of Representative Claimant;
(2) A completed Representative Claimant Declaration;
(3) A medical record or other document showing that the Player is deceased, legally incapacitated or incompetent; and
(4) The document(s) you listed in the Declaration to support your authority to act on behalf of the Player.
Blank copies of the Centralized Appointment Process forms and instructions are available on the Forms page on the Settlement Website. There are separate versions of the Petition and Declaration for deceased Players and for legally incapacitated or incompetent Players.
Reminder: If you are helping a living Retired NFL Football Player submit a claim in the Settlement Program and he is not legally incapacitated or incompetent and can understand and sign documents on his own, you are not a Representative Claimant. Instead, the Retired NFL Football Player can complete an Authorization for Release of Claims Information form, available on the Forms page of the Settlement Website, to authorize the Claims Administrator to speak with you about his claim (click here for an FAQ with more information about this authorization).
To become a Representative Claimant for a deceased, legally incapacitated, or incompetent Retired NFL Football Player who did not previously register, complete a Registration Form and send the Claims Administrator documents proving your authority to act on his behalf. Click here for more information on what documents the Claims Administrator can accept as proof of your authority to act on the Player’s behalf.
Reminder: If the Retired NFL Football Player completed registration and received a Notice of Registration Determination, you do not need to start a new registration to act as his Representative Claimant. Instead, the Claims Administrator may substitute you as Representative Claimant after you submit a Substitution of Representative Claimant Form, documents showing a court has authorized you to act on the Player’s behalf, and a HIPAA Form. Click here to learn more about this substitution process.
This depends on whether the Retired NFL Football Player is deceased, legally incapacitated or incompetent, as well as the laws of the state in which he last lived. Unless the Claims Administrator receives evidence that the Player lived in a different state, it will use the Player’s last known state of residence from the Registration Form or Substitution of Representative Claimant Form. There are two ways to be authorized as the Representative Claimant:
(a) Proof of Appointment: You can submit a copy of an order or other document showing that a state court or other official has appointed you as the representative of the Player. For a legally incapacitated or incompetent Player, you also can submit a copy of a “durable” or “springing” power of attorney (“POA”) signed by the Player and naming you as authorized to act for him if he became legally incapacitated or incompetent. A POA is not sufficient to show authority to act on behalf of a deceased Player.
(b) Centralized Appointment Process in the Federal Court: If you do not have the documents listed in (a), you can be appointed by the federal court overseeing this Settlement Program. However, to take advantage of this process, the Player or Representative Claimant for whom you will be substituted must have started registering on or before the August 7, 2017 Registration Deadline. To use this process, send to the Claims Administrator the following documents:
(1) A completed Petition for Appointment of Representative Claimant;
(2) A completed Representative Claimant Declaration;
(3) A medical record or other document showing that the Player is deceased, legally incapacitated or incompetent; and
(4) The document(s) you listed in the Declaration to support your authority to act on behalf of the Player.
Blank copies of the Centralized Appointment Process forms and instructions are available on the Forms page on the Settlement Website. There are separate versions of the Petition and Declaration for deceased Players and for legally incapacitated or incompetent Players.
If you submit a “durable” or “springing” POA, it must name you as the agent for the Retired NFL Football Player, be properly executed and still be in effect.
Reminder: A standard POA is not enough to show your authority to act for a deceased Player.
No. Only one person can act as a Retired NFL Football Player’s Representative Claimant.
Because only one person can be the Retired NFL Football Player’s Representative Claimant, the Claims Administrator will contact each person who timely registered and explain that someone else has registered as a Representative Claimant for the same Player. If one person provides a court order or other document showing that a local court or other official has appointed him or her to act on the Retired NFL Football Player’s behalf, that person will be the approved Representative Claimant. If no one trying to register as Representative Claimant has a court order or other document confirming that he or she can act on behalf of the Retired NFL Football Player and they cannot agree which of them should be the Representative Claimant, the Claims Administrator will ask each person to submit all of the documents they can to support their authority to act on behalf of the Retired NFL Football Player. After receiving those documents, the Claims Administrator will submit them to the Special Master for review and will notify each person of the Special Master’s decision.
Yes. You can be both the Representative Claimant of the Retired NFL Football Player and a Derivative Claimant of that Player. You must fill out two different Registration Forms, one for each role.
Yes. Representative Claimants must register (or be substituted for a Retired NFL Football Player who registered and received a Notice of Registration Determination) before they can submit Claim Packages. If you are a Representative Claimant, you can register in one of two ways:
(1) Online: go to https://www.nflconcussionsettlement.com/register.aspx and follow the step-by-step instructions.
(2) Mail: a Registration Form is available on the Forms page of the Settlement Website for you to download, print and mail to the Claims Administrator (click here to get it).
Reminder: Registering is not the same as submitting a Claim Package.
If a Retired NFL Football Player or Representative Claimant becomes legally incapacitated or incompetent or dies after registering, someone new must step in as Representative Claimant on behalf of the Player to pursue Settlement benefits. To become the Representative Claimant, the person authorized to act on the Player’s behalf must send these documents to the Claims Administrator:
(a) A completed and signed Substitution of Representative Claimant Form, which is available here and on the Forms page of the Settlement Website;
(b) Documents confirming his or her authority to act on behalf of the Player. Click here to read an FAQ about what documents are sufficient; and
(c) A Monetary Award Claim Package HIPAA Authorization Form, which is available here and on the Forms page of the Settlement Website.
After you submit these documents, the Claims Administrator will review them to make sure they are complete and will contact you with any questions. If you are approved to be the Representative Claimant, the Claims Administrator will update the Player’s registration to reflect your name and demographic information. You will use the same Settlement Program ID number as he received. If a Claim Package was already submitted, the Claims Administrator will continue processing it and will send you any notices or communications about the claim. If not, you will need to submit all of the required Claim Package documents to pursue a Monetary Award. Click here to read an FAQ about Claim Packages.
Yes. You must submit a Claim Package (or be substituted for a Retired NFL Football Player who registered and submitted a Claim Package) to receive Settlement benefits. Your Claim Package requirements are the same as they would be for a Retired NFL Football Player (click here for an FAQ about what makes a Claim Package complete).
Additionally, if you are the Representative Claimant of a Player who died before January 1, 2006, you will need to show that a wrongful death or survival claim would not be time-barred under applicable state law (click here to read more about this in Section 6.2(b) of the Settlement Agreement). Click here to view the Rules Governing Statute of Limitations Proceedings the Special Masters adopted to cover this process.