Since 1990, professional athletes have filed more than 6,300 workers' compensation claims in California against NFL teams and 3,100 claims against teams from other professional sports leagues alleging acute injuries, such as broken bones, as well as cumulative injuries incurred over time. Cumulative filings, most involving head or brain trauma, have increased markedly since 2006.
Names may appear more than once because players often make multiple claims.
Notes:
Cumulative injury* - an injury or injuries incurred over time
Concussion lawsuit** - plaintiff of a concussion-related lawsuit filed against the National Football League
The compensation claims were obtained by The Times through a California Public Records Act request filed with the California Division of Workers’ Compensation.
There are two groups of claims included in the sortable table – did not include an application date and submitted prior to 1990 – that were excluded from The Times analysis and above bar chart.
The Times has also identified more than 3,100 retired NFL players who also filed concussion-related lawsuits against the National Football League.
Sources: California Division of Workers' Compensation, National Football League Players Assn., Sports-Reference.com, Times research, Washington Times
Credits: Ken Bensinger, Armand Emamdjomeh, Maloy Moore, Sandra Poindexter