Draft:Cyril V. Smith
Submission declined on 23 September 2024 by SafariScribe (talk). This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia. This submission does not appear to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. Entries should be written from a neutral point of view, and should refer to a range of independent, reliable, published sources. Please rewrite your submission in a more encyclopedic format. Please make sure to avoid peacock terms that promote the subject.
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Submission declined on 13 May 2024 by Paul W (talk). This submission's references do not show that the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article—that is, they do not show significant coverage (not just passing mentions) about the subject in published, reliable, secondary sources that are independent of the subject (see the guidelines on the notability of people). Before any resubmission, additional references meeting these criteria should be added (see technical help and learn about mistakes to avoid when addressing this issue). If no additional references exist, the subject is not suitable for Wikipedia. This submission is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Reliable sources are required so that information can be verified. If you need help with referencing, please see Referencing for beginners and Citing sources. Declined by Paul W 6 months ago. |
Submission declined on 29 December 2023 by Tagishsimon (talk). You have four inline references, and then 33 references which are no inline. It's really not clear what these are, nor why they're there. It would be ideal if you could deal with that issue before trying to get the article into mainspace. Declined by Tagishsimon 11 months ago. |
- Comment: The subject is likely notable, but the sourcing of references is inadequate. Many of the inline citations do not even mention Smith - they relate generally to the litigations; some are simply links to corporate websites (4, 14, 15). While some refs (1, 2, 27, for example) appear to be significant coverage of the subject in reliable sources, others make only passing mentions of Smith (22, for example). Paul W (talk) 14:03, 13 May 2024 (UTC)
Cyril V. (Cy) Smith (born August 4, 1960) is an American lawyer who has represented National Football League (NFL) players in head injury-related litigation against the league's pension plan. He won the first-ever legal judgements against the NFL Pension Plan[1] and his 2020 lawsuit brought attention to the NFL's use of race-based standards for evaluating retiree benefit claims.[2]
Smith is partner in the Baltimore office of Zuckerman Spaeder, LLP, and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.[3]
Professional work
[edit]In 2004, Smith sued the NFL's pension plan on behalf of the estate of Michael "Mike" Webster, a former player for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs who had died in 2002, alleging that his repeated concussions from playing pro football had caused multiple brain injuries and ultimately led to his total disability.[4] Smith won that case in 2005,[5] with the federal trial court finding that Webster's estate was entitled to more than $1 million in unpaid disability pension benefits.[6] In 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld that finding.[7][8]
In 2007 Smith testified before the U.S. Congress about these rulings,[9] which were the first legal judgments of any kind against the NFL's pension plan.[1][10] The New York Times reported that Webster's fight for benefits helped lead to "hundreds of cases filed by retired N.F.L. players who said the league had hid from them the dangers of playing football."[11]
In 2020, Smith, along with Justin Wyatt of J.R. Wyatt Law, and Edward Stone of Edward Stone Law, brought a class action lawsuit challenging the NFL's use of race-based standards for evaluating players' benefit claims under the 2015 concussion settlement.[12][13] Settlement payments were based on players' loss in cognitive ability compared to "norms" on neuropsychological tests adjusted for several factors, including whether the player was Black or White. The norms, in turn, assumed that Blacks started with lower cognitive ability than Whites, so that White players were presumed to have lost more cognitive ability than their Black teammates.[14]
Representing former players Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, Smith argued that this "race-norming" practice placed Black retirees at a distinct disadvantage. The lawsuit led to an investigation by ABC News[15] and notable media attention focused on the NFL's use of race-based norms,[16][17][18][19] which experts called "morally unconscionable,"[20] "deeply discriminatory,"[21] and "on the eugenics level."[22]
Smith helped to negotiate a 2022 agreement with the NFL,[6] under which the league eliminated the use of race-norming and gave Black retirees the chance to receive benefits under race-neutral standards.[23][24] An August 2022 interim report filed by the administrator of the concussion settlement said that, following these changes, more than 300 Black ex-players had become eligible for new or increased benefits, with the possibility of many more eventually becoming eligible.[25]
The public exposure of the NFL's race-norming practice has contributed to a reexamination of race-based standards of care and in several areas of American healthcare.[2][26][27][28] As one example, The American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychologists called for "the elimination of race as a variable in demographically-based normative test interpretation” – a decision reported to be a result of the attention generated by Smith's lawsuit.[29]
Other work
[edit]Smith has represented a number of other retired American football players, including Jesse Solomon,[30] whose case further drew the link between football and the disease known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE.[31]
Smith has regularly spoken out on issues related to football and head injuries, and he has published opinion articles with USA Today,[32] ESPN,[33] CBS News,[34] Sports Business Journal,[35] and other outlets.
Beyond sports-related cases, Smith has represented individuals in high-stakes cases, including the son of real estate mogul and corporate raider Victor Posner in a multimillion-dollar settlement in one of the largest will contests in U.S. history[36] and an accountant in the Manila office of a global construction firm, who was kidnapped and tortured after the employer refused to pay his ransom or permit his family to do so.[37]
Smith was selected by the Alabama federal district court to serve on the five-person Plaintiffs' Steering Committee in the consolidated national class action antitrust proceedings against the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurers.[38][39] The settlement in that case[40] requires the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurers to pay $2.67 billion to insureds and to undertake sweeping changes in the ways the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurers compete in the national health insurance market.[41]
Awards and honors
[edit]- Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Litigation: General Commercial (Maryland)[42]
- Law360 Benefits MVP of the Year (2022)[43]
- The National Law Journal, Plaintiffs' Lawyer Trailblazer (2023[44] and 2017[45])
- The Daily Record, Leadership in Law Award (2009)[46]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Jacobs, Danny (2011-01-03). "'Relentless' lawyer, Cy Smith, takes on the NFL". Maryland Daily Record. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ a b Possin, Katherine (December 21, 2020). "Perils of Race-Based Norms in Cognitive Testing: The Case of Former NFL Players". JAMA Neurology. 78 (4): 377–378. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.4763. PMC 8218717. PMID 33346785.
- ^ "American College of Trial Lawyers, Maryland State Committee". American College of Trial Lawyers. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Garber, Greg (January 24, 2005). "A tormented soul". ESPN. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ "JANI v. BERT BELL/PETE ROZELLE NFL PLAYER RETIREMENT PLAN". Castext. April 26, 2005. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Brill, Emily (2022-09-22). "MVP: Zuckerman Spaeder's Cyril Smith" (PDF). Law360.
- ^ "Court: NFL pension board 'abused its discretion'". ESPN. December 14, 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ "Jani v. Bert Bell/Pete, No. 05-2386 (4th Cir. 2006)". Justia. December 14, 2006. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ "- NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE'S SYSTEM FOR COMPENSATING RETIRED PLAYERS: AN UNEVEN PLAYING FIELD?". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ "Retirees look for new start at NFLPA". Sports Business Journal. April 13, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Belson, Ken (January 13, 2018). "He Helped Ex-Players Get Benefits. His Family Is Still Waiting". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Dale, Maryclare (August 25, 2021). "Lawyers: NFL concussion awards discriminate against Blacks". Associated Press. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Belson, Ken (August 25, 2020). "Black Former N.F.L. Players Say Racial Bias Skews Concussion Payouts". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ "How 'race-norming' was built into the NFL concussion settlement". Washington Post. 2021-08-02. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ Madden, Pete (February 3, 2021). "Clinicians fear NFL's concussion settlement program protocols discriminate against Black players". ABC News. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Dave, Zirin (March 12, 2021). "So What the Hell Is Race Norming?". The Nation. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Hobson, Will (August 2, 2021). "How 'race-norming' was built into the NFL concussion settlement". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Canada, Tracie (July 8, 2021). "The NFL's Racist 'Race Norming' Is an Afterlife of Slavery". Scientific American. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ Yang, John (April 6, 2021). "NFL's 'race norming' practice may deny Black players equal compensation for injuries". PBS NewsHour. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Farmer, Sam (June 7, 2021). "Harry Edwards: NFL 'race-norming' is morally unconscionable and legally indefensible". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Trimbur, Lucia (June 8, 2021). "Opinion: The NFL's reversal on 'race norming' reveals how pervasive medical racism remains". NBC News. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ "Kevin Blackistone calls 'race-norming' practice 'eugenics level'". MSNBC. June 3, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Todd, Ross (2022-03-11). "Litigators of the Week: The Zuckerman Spaeder Duo Who Challenged the Use of 'Race-Norming' in the NFL Concussion Settlement". The American Lawyer. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ Hobson, Will (October 20, 2021). "NFL, former players agree to remove 'race-norming' from concussion settlement evaluations". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ Belson, Ken (August 12, 2022). "More Black Former N.F.L. Players Eligible for Concussion Payouts". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Cineas, Fabiola (2021-07-09). ""Race norming" and the long legacy of medical racism, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ Gelber, Jonathan (July 5, 2021). "What the NFL Can Teach Hospitals About Race | Opinion". Newsweek. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ "The NFL's Race-Norming Problem Is All Over Medicine". Slate. June 7, 2021. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Madden, Pete (December 2, 2021). "Neuropsychologists call for elimination of race-norming in clinical tests following NFL concussion controversy".
- ^ Belson, Ken (November 18, 2014). "Opposition to N.F.L. Settlement Centers on Coverage for Neurological Disease". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ "Court Deals Blow to NFL's Pension Plan in Concussion-Related Case". Sports Litigation Alert. April 14, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
- ^ "Football reigns as king of sports. For now. How injuries are changing the game's popularity". USA Today. 2018-09-20. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ "Stop fighting NFL retirees' claims". ESPN. August 29, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ "Tackled for a loss". CBS News. 2009-11-11. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ "Retirees look for new start at NFLPA". 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
- ^ admin (2003-10-17). "Will settlement puts Posners back in spotlight (72839)". Maryland Daily Record. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ "Khan v. Parsons Global Services". Casetext. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
- ^ "MDL-2406_0061_01.pdf" (PDF). April 26, 2013.
- ^ "The Architect of the Massive Antitrust Case Against Blue Cross Blue Shield". Lawdragon. 2022-11-23. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ Mathews, Anna Wilde (2022-08-09). "Judge Approves Blue Cross's $2.67 Billion Antitrust Settlement". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ Scarcella, Mike (October 25, 2023). "$2.7 bln Blue Cross antitrust settlement upheld by US appeals court".
- ^ "Cyril Smith". chambers.com. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ "MVP: Zuckerman Spaeder's Cyril Smith - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ "Plaintiffs Lawyers Trailblazers 2023". The National Law Journal. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
- ^ "Plaintiff's Lawyers Trailblazers 2017". The National Law Journal. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- ^ "2009 Winners". Maryland Daily Record. Retrieved 2024-01-11.