Mitch Carter testifies during the civil trail of his lawsuit against the Kern High School District for negligence as a result of injuries he sustained from a beating during a pep rally at Bakersfield High School in 2010. 
 
 Attorney Nicholas Rowley donned this costume to make a point during closing arguments in the case of his client Mitch Carter versus the Kern High School District. Carter was roughed up while wearing a similar chicken outfit at a 2010 BHS pep rally skit meant to mock Clovis West school’s mascot, the Golden Eagles. 
 
 Mitch Carter testifies during the civil trail of his lawsuit against the Kern High School District for negligence as a result of injuries he sustained from a beating during a pep rally at Bakersfield High School in 2010. 
 
 Attorney Nicholas Rowley donned this costume to make a point during closing arguments in the case of his client Mitch Carter versus the Kern High School District. Carter was roughed up while wearing a similar chicken outfit at a 2010 BHS pep rally skit meant to mock Clovis West school’s mascot, the Golden Eagles. 
 
 The Kern High School District agreed Wednesday to pay $10.5 million to a former student injured in a violent dog pile that broke out during a 2010 Bakersfield High School pep rally, cutting short an ongoing civil trial that threatened to cost the district’s insurance company even more money. 
 
 The student, Mitch Carter, will use that money for healthcare-related costs, his trial attorney Nicholas Rowley said during a press conference outside Kern County Superior Court. 
 
 A jury had already found the district liable for Carter’s injuries, which his lawyers said included brain damage. It was in the process of determining monetary damages and was expected to award more than $45 million, Rowley said based on interviews his side conducted with jurors in court Wednesday. 
 
 “They would have given him more, but the school district would have appealed,” Rowley said, adding the appeals process could have lasted years. Carter needs that money now, he said. 
 
 The district’s insurance company, New Jersey-based Everest National Insurance Company, will pay the lion’s share of that $10.5 million settlement, Rowley said. 
 
 “No matter what, I'd trade everything just to have a full functioning brain,” Carter said outside court Wednesday. “But I think that this is a good step in the right direction.” 
 
 INEXCUSABLE BUT A SURPRISE 
 
 Carter was mobbed by a group of students in 2010 when he put on a chicken costume meant to mock an opposing team’s mascot during a pep rally the day of a championship football game. Members of the football team pounced on him, punching, kicking and leaping onto a dog pile that Carter has said left him with a traumatic brain injury. 
 
 Jurors found the district negligent. 
 
 Defense attorney Michael Kellar on Wednesday described what happened to Carter in 2010 as “embarrassing and inexcusable,” and that it never should have occurred, “but came as a total surprise and sudden surprise to school staff.” 
 
 He said KHSD’s insurance company made the decision to settle, wanting to reduce the risk of an even higher jury award than the $10.5 million. 
 
 In an emailed statement, KHSD officials said they will reevaluate their safety policies in light of the incident and accept responsibility. 
 
 “We understand the reasons why Self-Insured Schools of California and the excess insurance carrier chose to settle this case,” the statement reads. “The District is going to take this opportunity to evaluate its standards, policies and practices to ensure that every student is educated in a safe and secure environment — because every parent and student should expect nothing less. 
 
 “We sincerely wish Mr. Carter and his family all the best as they move forward.” 
 
 The settlement ended a seven-day civil trial that shed light on shoddy safety practices at Kern High School District, revealed questionable policies and disorganization between the KHSD Police Department and school administrators, was fraught with accusations of conspiracy and cover-up and concluded with a lawyer donning a chicken suit in court. 
 
 At one point, when Kellar made an objection asking what the “chicken dance” was early in the trial, Rowley came close to demonstrating it in court. 
 
 “Do we need to go over what the chicken dance is?” Rowley asked. 
 
 A CHANGE IN POLICY 
 
 When Carter stepped into his chicken suit Dec 10, 2010, his attorneys said he became part of a tradition at Bakersfield High School. That tradition is one where students or teachers are asked to dress up in a costume of the opposing team's mascot and take a beating before a big game. 
 
 It happened to teacher Bob Stone in 2005, they said, something defense attorneys attempted to have excluded as evidence. 
 
 Rowley said he's confident the jury's verdict and the settlement will force KHSD to change policy and never allow this to happen again or else “we'll be at that next school board meeting. 
 
 “When a jury speaks, people listen,” he said. 
 
 Carter's lead attorney, Ralph Wegis, had in the past turned down settlement offers of $50,000 and $1 million before the trial began June 16. 
 
 KHSD IS ‘DESPICABLE’ 
 
 Rowley, who questioned the majority of witnesses, said he bears “no bad blood” with Bakersfield High School. But Wegis, who has called the district's actions “despicable,” won't be satisfied until administration reorganizes, he said. 
 
 “It's going to continue to be despicable until I hear from the school district that we have fired somebody and we have fired them because that's not who we want to be in the future,” Wegis said. 
 
 He'd start by eliminating top administrators, he said, and terminating anyone who lied during the trial. That includes Bakersfield High School Head Football Coach Paul Golla, whom Wegis says he was able to impeach as a witness. 
 
 Golla testified Thursday that he wasn’t in the gym when the dog pile took place. But a scout from USC testified Monday that he watched the dog pile form and was sitting next to Golla at the time. 
 
 “I would go down with every single person that had their fingerprints on this, so everybody who doesn't have their fingerprints on it says you could lose your job if safety isn't No. 1,” Wegis said. “If you lie in court you could lose your job. That’s not the example we're setting for our children.” 
 
 Rowley told reporters Wednesday that there “was some confusion” when Golla said he was not in the gym. Kellar remains steadfast in his Golla’s testimony. 
 
 “He said he wasn't there. So I'm taking him at his word, and you know, there may be some misunderstanding from the other coach as to when they did leave or if Golla left before him or if Coach Golla's attention was distracted somewhere else,” Kellar said. 
 
 That testimony, however, didn’t play a significant role in determining the district’s liability, Kellar said. 
 
 “I think it's incorrect to assign any claim that these employees lied or intentionally misled. Because I think that’s just the opposite and they had nothing to gain by it,” Kellar said. 
 
 CONSPIRACY THEORY ‘RIDICULOUS’ 
 
 Meanwhile, during his closing statements, Rowley accused the district of carrying on a “conspiracy” and “cover-up.” 
 
 Neither Golla nor BHS Activities Director Anna Lovan saw the dog pile form, they both testified. The lone KHSD police officer investigating the matter hadn’t seen the witness reports taken by school administrators until he was presented with them during the trial. 
 
 BHS Principal David Reese testified that he had no advance knowledge that a chicken suit would be used in a pep rally skit, but Lovan testified later that he approved it. 
 
 This was all orchestrated, Rowley asserted during trial. 
 
 Kellar called that assertion “ridiculous” Wednesday. 
 
 “There was no conspiracy,” Kellar said. “There may have been some lack of appreciation for what went down in the gym because the principal wasn't there, there was no video available immediately and Miss Lovan's view was obstructed in the initial moments of the dog pile.” 
 
 Rowley painted a picture during the trial of a school obsessed with football, creating a culture where star players are looked on as gods and protected by administrators. Students testified to that. 
 
 When Carter turned in a starting player who he said was stealing from backpacks, and later stole Carter’s wallet while he was in the shower, Golla shined him off, he testified. Golla offered Carter $20 from his wallet as consolation and didn’t discipline the player, Carter said. 
 
 “He's not 'Mitch the snitch' anymore, or the kid in the chicken suit,” Rowley said Wednesday. “He's somebody who stood up for himself in our justice system and made the world a safer place.” 
 
 Carter said he hopes to someday attend law school so he can stand up for those who need their voices heard. 
 
 “I had a great man stand up for me when no one else would,” Carter said. “I’d love to do that and stand up for the kid who needs to be stood up for.” ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The N.C.A.A. has reached a preliminary settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by former college athletes to institute wide-ranging reforms to its head-injury policies. 
 
 The settlement is the latest attempt by the N.C.A.A. to address concerns over athletes’ rights. It brings a significant change in the care and safety of all current and former college athletes — male and female, in all sports and across each division — including a $70 million medical monitoring fund and a new national protocol for head injuries sustained by players during games and practices. 
 
 “This offers college athletes another level of protection, which is vitally important to their health,” Steve Berman, the lead plaintiffs’ lawyer, said. “Student-athletes — not just football players — have dropped out of school and suffered huge long-term symptoms because of brain injuries. Anything we can do to enhance concussion management is a very important day for student-athletes.” 
 
 The settlement does not provide financial compensation for injuries but allows for individual players to sue for damages. It was filed in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois on Tuesday morning, and it still requires the approval of Judge John Z. Lee. At least one plaintiffs’ lawyer involved in the case criticized the agreement and said he would urge the judge to reject the settlement. 
 
 Jay Edelson, who represents one of the plaintiffs, called the preliminary agreement terrible and said he conveyed his objections to Lee on Tuesday afternoon. He said the judge gave him 28 days to file a brief putting his concerns in writing. At that point, the judge can ask for more briefs or more testimony before issuing a preliminary ruling. 
 
 “It totally loses sight of the purpose of the case, which was to compensate people who were badly injured by concussions,” Edelson said. “It’s a great deal for the N.C.A.A., but very scary for the class.” 
 
 The proposed settlement would establish a medical monitoring fund similar in some ways to the one proposed recently by the N.F.L. and its players. It would give all former college athletes a chance to receive a neurological screening to examine brain functions and any signs of brain damage like chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. 
 
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 Under the settlement, college athletes would preserve their rights to sue their universities or the N.C.A.A. for personal-injury financial damages, though Edelson worried that few would actually be able to bring such claims. 
 
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 “It’s going to be tough to find a lawyer to fight against the N.C.A.A.’s machinery when you’re talking about only $20,000 in damages,” Edelson said. “This is going to snuff out the vast majority of claims.” 
 
 He added: “Class members are allowed to fill out a questionnaire and then, based on a secret algorithm, they might be allowed to get a test to see if they have concussion-related symptoms. The vast majority of people already know that.” 
 
 The N.F.L.’s agreement, which is pending approval, seeks to create a fund worth several hundred million dollars to assist former players with treatment for the effects from their brain injuries. The N.C.A.A.’s settlement covers only diagnostic medical expenses. 
 
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 “There’s not a penny in it for the players,” said Ramogi Huma, the head of the National College Players Association. 
 
 Under the settlement, the N.C.A.A. would also prevent athletes who have sustained a concussion from returning to a game or practice that day. Trained medical personnel would be required at all contact sports events like football, lacrosse, basketball, soccer and wrestling. 
 
 “This agreement’s proactive measures will ensure student-athletes have access to high-quality medical care by physicians with experience in the diagnosis, treatment and management of concussions,” Brian Hainline, the chief medical officer of the N.C.A.A., said. 
 
 Huma countered that many of the guidelines were subject to the N.C.A.A.’s rule-making process. 
 
 “Even if they become official N.C.A.A. guidelines, they will be unenforceable,” he said. 
 
 While there are some 20,000 former N.F.L. players affected by the potential settlement with the league, there are close to four million former college athletes, 1.4 million of them in contact sports. Their experiences vary drastically, Berman said, making monetary damages difficult to address. 
 
 “It’s hard to create one class that includes swimmers and football players, given how different their athletic careers are,” said Berman, who added that the N.C.A.A., too, wanted only to discuss policy changes rather than financial rewards. “We felt individuals remain best off bringing individual suits, which they can still do.” 
 
 Several cases criticizing the N.C.A.A.’s handling of concussions began in 2011 when the former Eastern Illinois football player Adrian Arrington said the N.C.A.A. had been negligent in educating and protecting him after he sustained multiple concussions. Derek Owens, a wide receiver at Central Arkansas, soon brought his own suit, as did a female soccer player and a hockey player. A number of similar lawsuits were consolidated earlier this year. 
 
 According to N.C.A.A. documents uncovered during discovery, there were more than 30,000 concussions at colleges from 2004 to 2009. Describing the organization’s concussion policy, David Klossner, the N.C.A.A.’s director of health and safety, wrote in a 2010 email to a colleague: “Since we don’t currently require anything all steps are higher than ours.” 
 
 “A national policy is a very good thing,” said Matthew J. Mitten, the director of the National Sports Law Institute and the former chairman of an N.C.A.A. committee on safety. “We were only able to make simple recommendations, but now there is consensus among the athletic and medical community. The trick will be enforcing it at every school and not just at Ohio State and U.S.C.” 
 
 Settlement talks occurred during four meetings over the last year (three with the same judge who mediated the N.F.L.’s concussion settlement). Other terms of the agreement include $5 million for concussion research, to be funded by the N.C.A.A. and its member universities (the $70 million monitoring fund would be paid for by the N.C.A.A. and its insurers). Increased concussion tracking by universities and a preseason baseline test for every athlete would also be required. 
 
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 To qualify for a neurological exam, former athletes must complete a questionnaire designed by a team of neurologists and concussion experts. Should players qualify and need additional treatment, they can seek it through their own insurance or file a damages claim. 
 
 Owens and Arrington, for example, will continue their suits against the N.C.A.A. 
 
 “I don’t think there’s been much done in this regard before,” said Owens, who said he continues to have anxiety and depression after sustaining multiple concussions during college. “Not only for old washed-up guys like myself, but the current players and all the players who are going to come to school.” 
 
 Berman said he expected the $70 million would hold up for the life of the 50-year agreement because testing for C.T.E. and other brain diseases should become less expensive. The new diagnostic testing should also eliminate the need for future athletes to need postcareer screenings, he said. 
 
 “I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, a neurologist at the University of Michigan. “It’s a good step; it’s a needed thing. But C.T.E. is very difficult to diagnose, and the medical monitoring is only as good as the quality of the evaluations these athletes receive.” ||||| CLOSE As kids head back to school, you may want to rethink whether your child should play tackle football. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY 
 
 Ursula Goldston appears in an undated photo with her father Ralph, who played in the NFL from 1952-55. (Photo: Goldston family) 
 
 For debilitated and often-broke former football players and their families, the National Football League's agreement to pay more than $1 billion in a settlement for victims of chronic brain trauma appeared to be the end of the battle that had consumed them for years. 
 
 The money was supposed to provide a measure of peace and stability for the wives, widows and children of tormented players who had died young or are fading away in nursing homes. Not disclosed, however, is the significant portion of the fund that is being withheld from those it was promised. 
 
 As the award notifications begin to trickle out, some of the recipients have been stunned to find they may receive just pennies on the dollar of what they’re owed, likely setting off another spate of frustrating court battles. 
 
 Some have even received notices that show pending payments in the negative. 
 
 Sarah Goldston, the 90-year-old widow of Ralph Goldston – who was one of the first black players on the Philadelphia Eagles in 1952 before Alzheimer’s set in during his retirement – learned this month that their family had been awarded $160,000 from the settlement. But that preliminary award dwindled to negative $740 after deductions and “holdbacks,” including thousands the court has kept in case the family owes money for Ralph’s medical bills. 
 
 “I thought they made a mistake,” Ralph’s daughter, Ursula Goldston, said after seeing the family might receive nothing because of the pending liens, which email correspondences show might have been withheld in error. "I just cannot believe these people did that.” 
 
 USA TODAY reviewed documents or interviewed families in a dozen cases of former players whose settlement projections have been similarly reduced. Money that the former players or their family members had counted on will instead, for now, remain in the NFL’s settlement fund or will be redirected to insurance companies, lawyers, credit card companies or others who have placed a lien on the awards in an effort to secure a piece of the payout. 
 
 More: NFL had 'intervention' with seven teams on concussion rates 
 
 More: Pop Warner football is offering 'crash course' on concussion conundrum 
 
 More: Family of Junior Seau settles concussion lawsuit against NFL 
 
 The payout determinations are not final. Court officials and lawyers are sorting through the lienholders’ claims, while players can also appeal their deductions for an additional cost of $1,000. Out of 20,000 players involved in the suit, less than 700 have been approved for payment so far. 
 
 Some of the former players, as well as outside observers, blame in part lawyers who have filed liens seeking a large percentage of the awards even though they did minimal work on the case or recruited players with false promises after the settlement was reached. 
 
 USA TODAY reviewed letters in which former attorneys, who were fired before the case settled, demanded as much as 25 percent of a player’s award for as little as 15 months of work. The firms indicated in the letters that their work product amounted to “considerable time and effort.” They say they deserve fair compensation for helping qualify players to receive a settlement and that the lien is largely a fight with the new lawyer over fees. 
 
 John C. Coffee Jr., a professor at Columbia Law School, reviewed a sample of the settlement payout notices obtained by USA TODAY. He said if attorneys who did little work are demanding large chunks of a player’s award, that amounts to “unjust enrichment.” 
 
 “That’s where you should be outraged,” he said. 
 
 'Patently unfair' 
 
 It’s now on those players to dispute the work their old lawyers put in, and a magistrate judge will ultimately decide if and how much of a cut they will get. 
 
 The settlement terms created a formula for each player’s specific case and then a court administrator decides how much of the settlement fund to disperse, while holding back any money contested in a lien. 
 
 As of this month, payouts in the settlement total almost $570 million, according to a claims administrator. Though it includes claims the NFL has appealed, the high dollar figure has been touted by both sides as evidence that the settlement is already compensating players. 
 
 But until now, the specific dollar amounts withheld from players had not been reported. Those involved will not release what share of the total payouts are actually deductions and disputed liens. 
 
 Jim Acho, a Michigan attorney who has represented roughly three dozen retired players, said that his clients have said they are stunned by the holdbacks. He called some of the deductions “patently unfair” and said they “eviscerate a big chunk of the payment,” leaving his clients with a fraction of what they expected. 
 
 “When it really hits home for them is when your are sent the breakdown of the payout by the claims administrator,”Acho said. He added that his clients have likened the reduced payouts to being “punched in the gut." 
 
 Craig Mitnick, a lawyer whose firm co-represents more than 1,000 players in the class-action, said he now regrets publicly championing the agreement when it was first announced. Clients who fought for years to get a piece of the settlement have seen their potential payouts reduced to the low thousands, or even to nothing, by the holdbacks, he said. 
 
 "These players didn’t know what they were getting into,” Mitnick said. “The settlement is not what we thought it was." 
 
 Players and their families who spoke with USA TODAY said the withheld payouts are the latest insult in a years-long battle to hold the NFL, the world’s highest-earning sports league, accountable for brain injuries incurred during playing careers. The league long denied connections between the sport and lasting brain injury and, the suit claimed, failed to warn players or do what it could to protect them from head trauma caused by hard hits, leading to a condition now known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. 
 
 Plaintiffs have complained in the past that the legal battle against the NFL has been full of trapdoors and fine print that has tested resolve and stretched bank accounts, all while dealing with the devastating long-term impact of careers spent in football. Some had to unearth decades-old proof of their playing days and medical history before fighting through audits, appeals and narrow diagnosis criteria to show the court they deserved part of the settlement. 
 
 “A lot of people would have given up by now,” Ursula Goldston said. She and her family corralled decades-old paperwork documenting her father’s illness from past doctors. They got letters from neighbors who witnessed Ralph declining. One saw him standing by himself outside in the Ohio winter, freezing and confused, years ago. He stopped bathing and caring for himself. He lashed out at his wife in fits of rage. 
 
 “I’m not giving up,” Goldston said, “because my mother deserves this money.” 
 
 Different from other settlements 
 
 The terms of the class-action settlement are a result of negotiations between lawyers representing the players as a whole and those for the NFL. In interviews, many of those on the players’ side faulted Chris Seeger, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs, for negotiating settlement terms that they said opened the door for holdbacks without safeguards to ensure players don’t leave empty-handed. 
 
 In a letter sent to USA TODAY, Seeger wrote that the court accepted the terms and payout structure. He pointed to the hundreds of millions in approved payouts as evidence that the settlement was “working effectively.” 
 
 "It is required by law” to hold back funds until medical liens are resolved, Seeger wrote. He added that no players whose medical liens had been finalized had received a negative payout. 
 
 In a statement from Seeger after the story was published online, he wrote, in part, that “the majority had $0 deducted from their awards for medical liens or lien-related fees. For the minority that did pay medical liens and related fees, their average deduction has been 2.2%.” 
 
 In other high-profile class-action cases with large settlements, the parties negotiated the ability to increase award amounts to make sure deserving victims did not see their payouts diminished, said Kenneth Feinberg, an attorney who has administered class-action settlements, including one stemming from the September 11 attacks. 
 
 “We had broad discretion to prevent the injustice of an eligible member getting nothing due to the cold calculation of a formula,” Feinberg said. 
 
 Similar steps were not taken to ensure NFL players won’t walk away with very low or no awards. 
 
 “I’m afraid that wasn’t part of the negotiating,” said Larry Coben, a lawyer for the plaintiffs involved in reaching the terms of the settlement. 
 
 The NFL declined to make a league official available for an interview. In a statement, the league did not address the issue of depleted awards but said, “The settlement program is working as intended, and we will continue to work in good faith to pay all approved claims under this settlement, which has been thoughtfully and thoroughly negotiated by the parties and approved by multiple courts.” 
 
 Coben defended the broader terms of this deal – which has been criticized by debilitated former players as too full of exclusions and provisions – as “not a one-time shot.” 
 
 “Ten to 15 years from now, if their condition worsens, they could apply again and potentially get a benefit,” Coben said. 
 
 Echoing an opinion of the federal judge overseeing the settlement, Coben justified the holdbacks as a measure to negotiate down liens and prevent players from later getting sued by medical providers or other entities. It’s not uncommon for large, public settlements like this to open the door for third parties who think they are due a cut. Health care plans with hospitals, insurance providers and Medicare often specify some sort of repayment should a patient ever win a windfall settlement meant to help cover the cost of care. 
 
 Some of the payout notices reviewed by USA TODAY show initial awards calculated by the administrator reduced to nothing after all the pending lien holdbacks. 
 
 After Gordon Smith – a Minnesota Vikings tight end who played in the 1960s – went through a formula that calculated his age at the time of his Alzheimer's diagnosis, degree of illness, years in the league and medical history, the courts administrator awarded him $183,000 for his brain trauma. 
 
 But because private insurance had covered some of the costs related to his care, the courts administrator held back all but $4,600. 
 
 Smith’s wife, Maetha, who spoke on Gordon’s behalf, said she was shocked at the amount after seeing the public statements about large payouts from the NFL and lawyers who negotiated the settlement. 
 
 “We were hearing hundreds of thousands,” she said. "This settlement is minuscule.” 
 
 The administrator awarded Barbara Stark $100,000 in a settlement for her husband, Ed Cooke, a defensive end on five teams in the 1960s who later developed Alzheimer’s. After holdbacks for pending liens, the final figure showed Cooke is slated to receive negative $200. 
 
 Andrew Stewart, a 52-year-old former linebacker who has Parkinson’s disease, said that angry phone calls and messages are circulating among retired players and their wives after receiving notices detailing their settlement payouts. 
 
 “It’s shocking what the offsets are,” said Stewart, who was on the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers from 1989 through 1993. He saw his own potential award drop from $3 million to $750,000 after the administrator reduced the amount of seasons he was credited for because he missed time with injuries. He has not yet received his claim determination because his case is tied up in appeals, he said. 
 
 “I’ve heard of guys receiving a tenth of what they were going to get,” Stewart said. “Nobody’s getting what they thought they were getting.” 
 
 Officials working on the claim distribution said many of the liens placed on players’ payouts are from former lawyers, some of whom were fired before the class-action litigation even began. 
 
 Sandra Irvin, speaking on behalf of her husband, Darrell, a defensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks in the early 1980s who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, called her fired attorney’s $200,000 lien an affront. 
 
 “I think we got a total of three phone calls from them,” Irvin said. “What a joke.” 
 
 Contributing: A.J. Perez
– A California man whose life was forever altered by donning a chicken suit for a high school pep rally has been awarded a lot more than chicken scratch in a lawsuit against Kern High School District. Mitch Carter was a 17-year-old student at Bakersfield High School in 2010 when he dressed up in the suit to mock the Golden Hawk mascot of arch-rival Golden West High School for an ill-fated skit, the Los Angeles Times reports. Students—including plenty of football players—piled on top of him, delivering kicks and punches in a beating that lawyers said left Carter with a traumatic brain injury. After a jury found the district liable for his injuries, it decided to settle with him for $10.5 million, most of which will be covered by insurance. Lawyers said Carter, once an honor roll student, has struggled with depression and poor grades in college since the beating. His future medical care costs will be more than $5 million, according to the lawyers. "I would trade everything just to have a full functioning brain," he said after the award was announced. The Bakersfield Californian recaps the wild trial that was brought to an end by the settlement. It included accusations of conspiracy and cover-up from Carter's lawyers, who brought in students to testify that the high school was obsessed with football and protected star players. During closing arguments, attorney Nicholas Rowley donned a chicken costume to make a point.