Former NFL player Brad Culpepper is being sued by an insurance company that claims he faked injuries from his football playing days to receive a disability settlement – all while actually leading an active lifestyle that includes kickboxing and being a contestant on TV reality show "Survivor."
Culpepper, who earned a law degree after his playing days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, received a $175,000 settlement from insurance company Fairmont Premier four years ago after claiming he was 89 percent disabled,
according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The insurance company charged that Culpepper has taken up kickboxing and went on to earn his black belt in the sport. Then in 2013, he and his wife Monica were contestants on the CBS reality show "Survivor: Blood vs. Water."
Culpepper described the "Survivor" competition to the Times then as "clean, old-school caveman stuff," and he was eliminated after two weeks of competition. The nationally-televised competition proved to be the tipping point for his insurer.
"He said he can't do recreational activities," Christopher Fusco, an attorney who represents insurance companies and writes a sports blog, told
KMGH-TV in September. "He's limited in what he can do, he has pains every day of the year."
"And now he's living on a desert island and he's swimming and killing fish with his hands and eating bamboo, so that's going to upset the insurer," Fusco continued.
Fusco charged that Culpepper filed his worker's claim in California, which has no statute of limitations while its favorable policies has led to the league and insurers to dole out millions to ex-players over the years.
"The NFL players association put out word to NFL players to file claims and thousands upon thousands did exactly that," Fusco told the television station.
Culpepper's lawyer, Scott Schutzman, told the Times that the lawsuit ignores his client medical history, which supported the disability claim.
"This man played in the NFL for 10 years," said Schutzman. "He has multiple doctors and medical records, including 14 or 15 MRIs, which show injuries to his knees, to his shoulders, to his head. He's had injury after injury after injury."
Culpepper played in the league from 1992 to 2000 as a defensive tackle for Tampa Bay, the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears, reported the Times.
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