Ex-AU Player Anthony Redmon

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http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/p.../607020307/1001

Ex-AU football star takes on insurance battle

By Tim Gayle

Montgomery Advertiser

More info:

  ANTHONY REDMON

Born: April 9, 1971, in Brewton

Position: Offensive lineman

High school: T.R. Miller

College: Auburn University

NFL: Arizona Cardinals (1994-97), Carolina Panthers (1998-1999), Atlanta Falcons (2000)

Officially retired: December 2003, after two failed comeback attempts with the Green Bay Packers. He couldn't pass physicals in 2002 and 2003 and, therefore, wasn't officially signed to a contract.

Anthony Redmon always dreamed of playing in the National Football League. He saw professional sports as the way to a better life.

The dream came true when the former Auburn University offensive lineman signed a contract with the Arizona Cardinals in 1994. During the seven years he played for the Cardinals, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, he built new homes for his wife and mother.

But everything changed in 2000. A knee injury in Atlanta's fourth game that year ended what turned out to be his final season. He was cleared to play again the next year, but he suffered a severe shoulder injury and reinjured his knee on the third day of training camp.

His career was over.

After shoulder surgery and a failed comeback bid with the Green Bay Packers, he retired in 2003 and filed a $1 million claim on a pair of insurance policies he'd taken with Lloyd's of London.

Redmon has gone broke waiting on the policies to pay off.

"When I got hurt, I stopped getting paid," said Redmon, who was beginning the second year of a four-year contract that paid him $750,000 annually.

"I went four years without any salary, using whatever I had put away. Had (Lloyd's) paid me, we could have gone on with our life and everything would have been fine."

Last summer, Redmon filed a $50 million civil suit in federal court in Montgomery against the insurance company for fraud, breach of contract and misrepresentation.

The case promises to attract interest from professional players in all sports as well as the companies that insure them against injury. At stake are a player's right to protect himself from debilitating injuries and an insurance company's right to arbitrate disputes.

"They are trying to create a dispute where there was not one," said Montgomery attorney Terry Davis. Davis and Atlanta attorney Ron Hatcher are representing Redmon.

"If you do not have a good case for not paying it, you're supposed to pay it," Davis said.

As the dispute dragged on, Redmon lost both houses and went bankrupt. Though he has yet to see a dime, the sums involved in his litigation have become fantastic.

Two weeks ago, after a U.S. district judge approved the insurance company's motion to take the case to arbitration, Redmon's attorneys retaliated by upping the ante.

They increased the claim to $51 billion.

"The bad news is we went to arbitration," said Davis, who wanted a judgment from a jury. "The good news is we can fully raise all the claims."

The case is now in the hands of the American Arbitration Association. The next step is a panel of arbitrators who will rule on the case. It has not been placed on a docket yet.

Davis contends the insurance company's refusal to pay Redmon is part of a global conspiracy. The Asian tsunami, coupled with a great number of hurricanes and earthquakes since 2003, compromised the underwriters' ability to pay.

Executives named in the suit and their attorneys refused comment. But Lloyd's of London has experienced recent financial difficulty. The company Web site reports a pretax loss of $181 million in 2005, after profits of $1.5 billion the year before. That same site reports additional payouts of $1.4 billion this year after winter storms and tornadoes.

Redmon thought he'd done the right thing to prepare for life after football.

"You try to invest as much as possible," he said. "You try to have a lifestyle that's not beyond your means. You get insurance coverage so that, God forbid, if something happens, they'll cover me."

The insurer's refusal to pay floored him.

The insurance company argue that the reinjured knee, which was not covered by the policy, contributed to Redmon's forced retirement. Redmon said that is not true. He said it was clearly the shoulder injury, which turned out to be far worse than first thought, which kept him from playing again.

The company also could argue that Redmon's policy lapsed during his attempts to come back and play for Green Bay in 2002 and 2003. He disagrees with that as well.

Almost four years without a paycheck took its toll. His savings are gone. He and his wife, Stephanie, had to move in with her parents in Opelika.

But his worst moment came when he filed for bankruptcy.

"My belief is if you create a debt, it's your job to pay the debt," he said. "That's part of your responsibility as a man. Your word is your bond. If someone extends credit to me and I don't honor my portion of it, to me that's rock-bottom."

Redmon has struggled to get his life back together. He returned to Auburn and finished his degree. Last October, he found work as an instructional coordinator with Michelin. He's based in Opelika.

When he turned 35 in April, Redmon automatically started receiving an NFL annuity. He said it was a small percentage of his salary but did not disclose the exact amount.

Whatever the outcome of the arbitration, Redmon said his recovery will continue.

He said he has learned from the experience, which he hopes will serve as a warning to any youngster who believes athletics is the key to wealth and a trouble-free life.

"The one thing I didn't want to do is change the lifestyle my family had grown accustomed to living," Redmon said. "If I was to do anything different, it would have been to change the lifestyle and downsize to allow me to sustain a lot longer."