A former National Football League player won $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees, plus up to $600,000 in additional fees if the case is appealed, after he successfully sued the league plan for disability benefits, a Texas federal court ruling shows.
Michael Cloud “handily” won his lawsuit, “defying the odds while facing extraordinary difficulties along the way,” Judge Karen Gren Scholer said in a Monday opinion awarding Cloud more than $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees—an “upward enhancement” of about 20% from his requested fee of just over $1 million. The increase is warranted because Cloud obtained “exceptional success” against a defendant that rarely loses in court and claims it “never settles” disability benefit lawsuits brought by former players, Scholer said.
Scholer, who sits in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, also took the unusual step of awarding Cloud “conditional” appellate attorneys’ fees. She ordered the NFL plan to pay Cloud $250,000 in fees if it unsuccessfully appeals the case to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, plus an additional $350,000 for an unsuccessful appeal with the US Supreme Court.
The NFL plan argued strongly against a conditional appellate fee award, saying in a June filing that such awards are a “Texas state law procedure” that don’t apply in federal court under Fifth Circuit precedent.
Scholer...
"Breaking news: Sri Lanka has been removed from the United Nations," says superimposed Sinhala-language text on a Facebook graphic shared on September 25, 2026 The graphic also features a photo of...