Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 9923148)

Because shit happens and they needed to deal with this group of 4,500.

This isn't a grey area - the court has no jurisdiction over non-parties to this suit. As such, any settlement agreement reached to dispose of this suit is not binding on the non-parties. It has no effect as a contract, settlement or otherwise.

If the new group of players that gets together tomorrow either A) wasn't included in the class or B) Elected to opt out of the class, they're more than within their legal rights to sue the NFL again.

And a year later, yet another group can do it.

The NFL can't enter into a prospective settlement agreement with a class of plaintiff's that hasn't even been identified yet. All they can really do is dispose of what's in the past and better prepare themselves for suits in the future.

Originally Posted by vailpass (Post 9923396)

Does it get harder to certify a class after a suit has been settled?

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud (Post 9923379)

The payment is spread out over 20 years.

The first three years, each team will owe $3.9 million. From there on out, they'll pay $703k for 17 years.

The NFL got off easy.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 9923415)

You mean a later class? No, it shouldn't.

Because the members of that later class were in no way obligated to be a part of the original class. If the courts held that any later classes are subject to a higher burden, they're essentially saying that the members of that class had an obligation to take part in the prior class action.

I guess it's not impossible; judges allow bias to creep in quite often. But really, class certification isn't terribly difficult.