BY GINA G. SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Even as the National Football League’s concussion settlement is called into question, the Montclair School District finalized its own settlement with the family of a high school player who died after being cleared to return from a concussion.

The $2.8 million settlement among Ryne Doughtery’s family; the Montclair High School and the Board of Education was reached Sept. 9, Beth Baldinger, the family’s attorney, said.

A junior linebacker, Dougherty, sustained a brain hemorrhage during an October 2008 game after he was cleared to return to the gridiron, she said. The 16-year-old’s poor results on an impact test was allegedly disregarded by the school’s athletic director who also ignored rules governing how a player should be returned to the field following a concussion. He also didn’t ensure Dougherty

wasn’t fully cleared before returning him to play football.

“There were failures in the system all the way through,” she said.

Former NFL players believe the same failures exist at the professional level. Nearly 5,000 former players successfully sued the league for $765 million. The lawsuit claimed the league knew there were long-term effects as a result of concussions, but did nothing to lengthen recovery time for players; NFL officials deny any of it.

“I recall that former Chicago Bears defensive back (and my former colleague at Voice America Sports) Dave Suerson’s last text message to his family, asking to have this brain examined right before killing himself with a shotgun to the chest,” former Detroit Lions defensive back LaMar C. Campbell, who was among the players to sue the league, wrote in an open letter to CNN.

Campbell is now the director of Media Relations for the Atlanta chapter of the NFL Players Association. He acknowledged a good portion of the lawsuit was about providing, financially, for the most severe diagnosed players and all former players; whether they joined lawsuit.

But the core of the suit, Campbell wrote was that “the NFL was aware of the evidence and risks associated with traumatic brain injuries for many decades, but deliberately ignored and actively concealed the information from players.

“I believe the NFL more than likely would not have settled with the admission of any liability. By not going to trial, the league does not have to face the discovery and deposition process and therefore leaves many questions unanswered.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was upset by the idea the nearly $800 million wasn’t enough; compared to what the league rakes in annually.

“We were able to find common ground to be able to get relief to the players and their families now rather than spending years litigating,” he said. “We think it’s the right thing to move forward and try to help our players.”