NFL Concussion Settlement: 5 Law Firms Barred for Fraud

Five law firms have been permanently barred from the NFL’s concussion settlement program after court-appointed special masters found they orchestrated a scheme to obtain fraudulent Parkinson’s disease diagnoses for retired players. The June 2026 ruling followed an 81-page audit showing the firms funneled players to unapproved doctors, put them on Parkinson’s medication before their official evaluations, and collectively pulled more than $95 million out of the fund across 57 approved claims.¹

The Five Firms

The firms named in the special masters’ order are:

Douglas Grossinger, Attorney at Law, a Philadelphia-based solo practice identified in the report as the “ringleader.” Grossinger personally submitted 15 Parkinson’s claims and coordinated additional filings through other firms using co-counsel arrangements to spread the volume and avoid detection. He allegedly instructed his team to avoid putting anything in writing and arranged off-the-books payments, including a proposed $75,000 payment to poach a client from a terminated attorney and a $150,000 “bonus” from one player on top of his standard fees.²
Feder Law, LLC, a Pennsylvania firm led by Fred Feder.³
Pro Athlete Law Firm, P.A.
Syme Law, PLLC.
Reppert Oates & Vytell, LLC, in which retired NFL player Bart Oates is a partner. The audit found that Oates leveraged his status as a former player to recruit clients, cold-calling retirees and allegedly promising a Parkinson’s diagnosis if they switched representation to his firm. The firm also omitted medical reports from physicians who had determined that certain players did not have Parkinson’s.⁴²

Between them, the five firms handled claims involving 98 former players. None responded to press requests for comment, and their refusal to cooperate during the audit was cited by the special masters as an “aggravating factor” in the decision to bar them.²

How the Scheme Worked

The audit, released by the claims administrator on December 12, 2025, laid out a multi-step pipeline. Attorneys recruited retired players, sometimes through cold calls. Those players were then sent to outside doctors who were not board-certified neurologists, did not specialize in movement disorders, and in some cases had past bankruptcies, tax liens, or civil judgments on their records.⁵ These physicians ran brief, one-visit evaluations and produced templated reports without reviewing the players’ full medical histories.²

The critical step came next. Players were prescribed levodopa, a Parkinson’s medication, before being sent to the settlement’s approved, board-certified neurologists for their official evaluation. The approved doctors then faced what the special masters called a “difficult diagnostic position”: a patient who appeared well but arrived already medicated and carrying outside records describing Parkinson’s symptoms. In that situation, the approved physicians tended to defer to the paperwork rather than their own clinical observation.⁶ The special masters described this as “laundering” questionable diagnoses through the settlement’s legitimate medical infrastructure.³

What the Money Looked Like

Of the claims tied to the five firms, 57 had already been approved and paid before the fraud was flagged, totaling more than $95 million. The firms collected roughly $20 million of that in attorney fees.¹ Parkinson’s claims under the settlement are eligible for awards of up to $3.5 million per player.⁷ Another four claims were denied or withdrawn during the investigation, and 37 remained pending when the ruling came down. By June 2026, the settlement fund overall had paid out more than $1.6 billion across roughly 2,100 claims.

What the Ruling Ordered

On June 8, 2026, special masters David A. Hoffman and Jo-Ann M. Verrier filed a 51-page statement with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania confirming there was a “reasonable basis” for the audit’s fraud findings.² Their order:

Permanently barred all five firms from the settlement program.
Denied all 37 pending claims tied to those firms.
Directed the claims administrator to deny any claim involving the eight nonqualified physicians identified in the scheme.⁶
Required the administrator to develop new safeguards for evaluating Parkinson’s disease claims going forward.
Preserved the right of affected players to seek fresh evaluations from program-approved physicians and restart the claims process.

Is This a Criminal Case?

No. The ruling is a civil administrative action within the settlement program, not a criminal complaint, and no criminal charges had been filed as of June 2026. The special masters noted, however, that they retain the authority to refer their findings to federal authorities.⁶ The order also does not determine whether any of the affected players actually have Parkinson’s disease. It addresses the conduct of the attorneys and the integrity of the diagnostic process, and it leaves the door open for players to be re-evaluated on their merits.

What Affected Players Can Do

If your claim was denied as part of the fraud sweep, the order allows you to seek a new evaluation from a program-approved physician and refile through the standard process. The firms that represented you can no longer participate in the program, so you will need new counsel or can proceed directly. The claims administrator, BrownGreer PLC, handles intake and processing for the more than 20,000 registered class members in the settlement.⁸ The settlement is uncapped and runs for 65 years from its 2016 approval, so eligibility for a legitimate Parkinson’s diagnosis is not foreclosed by the ruling.

1
U.S. News & World Report. Law Firms Cheated in Filing Claims With NFLs Concussion Settlement Fund
2
The New York Times / The Athletic. NFL Concussion Settlement Fraud Parkinsons Disease
3
ABC News. Law Firms Cheated in Filing Claims With NFLs Concussion Settlement Fund
4
WTOP. Law Firms Cheated in Filing Claims With NFLs Concussion Settlement Fund
5
Medpage Today. Law Firms Barred From NFL Concussion Settlement
6
ESPN. Five Law Firms Accused of Defrauding NFL Concussion Fund
7
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. NFL Concussion Settlement Program Exhibit
8
BrownGreer PLC. NFL Concussion Settlement