https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/pa...n-landmark-watmough-case-20180310-p4z3qu.html
Parramatta make $1m claim against insurer in landmark Watmough case
Parramatta is taking landmark legal action against the NRL’s insurer after it refused to make a seven-figure payout to Anthony Watmough.
The Eels have begun Supreme Court action against QBE with a claim of $1,096,613 over the insurer’s decision not to provide Watmough a career-ending insurance payout.
The case has the potential to result in a flood of similar claims from NRL clubs relating to injuries that have led to players retiring prematurely.
Parramatta signed Watmough on a four-year deal from 2015 to 2018, although the former Manly, NSW and Australian backrower managed just 17 appearances for the blue and golds.
The Eels claim his career was effectively over following a preseason training mishap in which Watmough collided with fellow forward Beau Scott on Valentine’s Day of 2016.
The club claims the medial injury he sustained to his knee should be covered by insurance, while QBE claims Watmough’s retirement was the result of pre-existing knee issues.
The Eels agreed to a payout deal with Watmough, which resulted in him being paid 75 per cent of his contract values for 2017 and 2018. That worked out to $476,250 for his third season (originally contracted at $635,000) and $416,250 (originally $555,000) for the final one. The club’s claim against QBE includes those totals and two $100,000 third-party deals for Watmough, plus interest and costs, taking the total over the $1 million mark.
It’s understood all 16 clubs were paying QBE about $35,000 per season for the premium at the time.
While the NRL never included the Eels’ payout to Watmough under the cap, the club is furious the insurer declined the claim. The stoush comes at a time when Parramatta is trying to curb its football club expenditure, having spent about $22 million over the past two seasons, the highest of any NRL club.
At the time of the incident, it’s understood doctors engaged by Watmough and the club - as well as an independent medico - agreed the Scott hit had led to the career-ending injury. Prior to the incident, Watmough was scheduled to play in a pre-season trial the following weekend.
“I don’t know why people have insurance,” said Eels chairman Max Donnelly.
“You have a [legitimate] claim and it gets denied.”
The NRL engaged QBE in 2014 to protect clubs and footballers, a year after Alex McKinnon suffered catastrophic spinal damage.
If Parramatta is successful, it could lead to insurers - rather than the clubs - having to spend millions in payouts to players in similar situations to that of Watmough.
The case will also likely set a precedent regarding what constitutes a pre-existing, as opposed to career-ending, injury.
The Eels’ bottom line has been hit by a series of payouts and fines in recent years. As well as the Watmough matter, there have also been payouts to Will Hopoate and Kieran Foran on top of the $750,000 fine meted out over salary cap breaches.
The club has also been involved in a series of legal disputes, including one against former major sponsor Dyldam.
The Eels posted a loss of more than $10 million in the last financial year but are seeking to slash costs in order to become less reliant on their leagues club.
The development comes as the NRL introduces a ‘soft’ cap on football expenditure of $5.7 million from this season.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...h/news-story/18042092dd85990d2c1a2a4faea9668f
Parramatta Eels launch legal action with NRL insurer over denial of a career-ending injury payout to former player Anthony Watmough
MICHAEL CARAYANNIS, The Sunday Telegraph
March 10, 2018 3:34pm
THE signing of Anthony Watmough continues to plague Parramatta with the Eels launching legal action against the NRL’s insurer, QBE, over its denial of a career-ending injury payout to the former representative star.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that the Eels are locked in a bitter court battle with the insurance company regarding payment of the final two years of Watmough’s contract believed to be worth about $1.2 million.
QBE denied the insurance payout to Watmough in 2017 regarding a knee injury which cut-short his rich four-year deal after just 12 months. Parramatta Eels chairman Max Donnelly confirmed the club had taken the insurance company to court.
“I can’t work out why people take insurance out for these types of things because claims are denied regardless of the evidence,” Donnelly told the Sunday Telegraph.
The Daily Telegraph reported in August 2016 that the insurance company had denied the payment forcing the club to stump up the more than one million dollars required to fulfil its obligations.
In a letter obtained then, QBE wrote to Watmough to say that his claim was denied because of his “inability to play in the NRL or any other professional league is the result of symptomatic, pre-existing degenerative changes to your left knee”.
Parramatta have maintained Watmough suffered his career-ending injury in February last year, in a “friendly fire” pre-season training mishap with Eels teammate Beau Scott.
The NRL agreed with the Eels notion, therefore exempting the payment from their 2017 and 2018 salary caps.
After a distinguished career at Manly, Watmough featured in just 17 games for the Eels in 2015 before his premature retirement. Since retiring he has started a new career in the food industry having bought a share in Cubby’s Kitchen after it relocated from Surry Hills to the CBD.
The civil matter is listed to be heard in the Supreme Court on March 28.
