Seaus to opt out of concussion deal

— -- Relatives of former linebacker Junior Seau, whose suicide in 2012 put the NFL's concussion crisis on the national agenda, will reject a proposed settlement between the league and thousands of former players, a lawyer representing the family told "Outside the Lines" on Tuesday.

The decision to opt out means the Seaus will proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit they filed in January 2013. That suit alleges that the NFL concealed the dangers of football-related head trauma over a period of several years. After his death, Seau was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a neurodegenerative disease that has been found in dozens of deceased NFL players.

The announcement, coming on the eve of the 2014 season, is a serious blow to the NFL's efforts to put the concussion issue to rest. It raises the specter of continuing litigation that would pit the NFL against the family of one of its most popular players. Seau, a certain Hall of Famer, played 20 years in the NFL.

"The family want to know why this settlement seems designed for expediency for the NFL and to ensure that information doesn't come out," said Seau lawyer Steven Strauss, a partner in the firm Cooley LLP. "And the Seau family wants the truth to come out. Since this litigation started, there hasn't been one document produced, there hasn't been one deposition taken. It seems very clearly designed to nip this in the bud and not have the truth come out, and that's not acceptable to the Seau family, and it's not acceptable to Junior's legacy."