Tennessee football player settles workers’ compensation claim

As many readers in Tennessee are aware, the football season has only recently gotten underway for another year. Our state’s NFL team, the Titans, hope to make it a winning season. For one former player, the new season marks the end of a long workers’ compensation claim that ended recently in a winning settlement for the former player.

Former Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae filed a workers’ compensation claim against the team for injuries he suffered during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The injuries he claimed included ones to his shoulders, elbows, wrists and back. As a result of his 16-year career in the NFL, the former football star’s physician now says that he has restricted range of motion in his body. He played with the Titans for five seasons.

To address the injuries, the Titans have agreed to pay the workers’ compensation claim in the amount of $114,000 in a lump sum payment. In addition to the cash settlement, the team has agreed to provide for any future necessary and reasonable medical treatment to the injured body parts. Mawae ended his football career in 2010, potentially due in part to his injuries.

Like other workers in Tennessee, the football player had a right to make workers’ compensation claim when he was injured on the job. Though not a typical career for many in our state, his injuries were no less real than that of workers in other industries. Now Mawae can move forward from his injuries and can use the compensation payment to help cover the medical costs associated with his injuries from years on the gridiron. For Mawae, this football season is already a winner.

Source: Nashville City Paper, “Titans settle with ex-center Mawae on $114K workers’ comp claim,” Pierce Greenberg, Sept. 7, 2012