Rashidi Wheeler

Linda Will, the mother of late Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler, was awarded an estimated $10.7 million Friday, 70% of the $16-million settlement the university agreed to pay last year to end a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Wheeler's family after his 2001 practice-field death. Wheeler's brothers, George III and Hershel Jr., received 5% each in the allocation order by Cook County (Ill.

A recently appointed minors guardian in the Rashidi Wheeler wrongful-death suit against Northwestern University is suggesting a Chicago judge replace the former football player's mother as a co-administrator of his estate, a move the guardian contends would allow the case to be settled for an estimated $16 million. In a six-page report to Cook County (Ill.) Judge Kathy Flanagan, minors guardian George B.

Against the wishes of a mother pushing for a jury trial, a Chicago judge Monday ordered a $16-million settlement of the emotionally charged lawsuit pitting the family of late football player Rashidi Wheeler against Northwestern University. Wheeler, a 22-year-old senior strong safety who graduated from La Verne Damien High, collapsed while struggling to complete a rigorous set of wind sprints on a Northwestern practice field on Aug.

An appeal to stop a $16-million settlement in the death of Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler has been denied by an Illinois appellate court, prompting a harsh response from the player's mother. "I'm fighting for my right to exist; [the courts] act like myself and Rashidi's brothers don't have a vote in this," Linda Will, Wheeler's mother, said Thursday. "Northwestern has already killed my child.

A U.S. District Court judge has ordered the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of former Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler transferred to New Jersey, where it can be consolidated with 52 other claims against an ephedra-product-making company in bankruptcy proceedings. Wheeler, a 22-year-old La Verne Damien High graduate who was a senior safety for the Wildcats, died Aug. 3, 2001, after collapsing on a practice field during an intense set of wind sprints.

A judge in Illinois Monday severed the involvement of a company that makes ephedra products in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Rashidi Wheeler's family against Northwestern University, a move that would keep the possible trial in Chicago and override a previous federal order to move the case to court proceedings in New Jersey.

The mother of Rashidi Wheeler has fired her Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.-led legal team, drawing sharp criticism from the attorney for Wheeler's father and complicating the family's wrongful-death lawsuit against Northwestern University. The suit recently was moved from Illinois to federal bankruptcy court in New Jersey. "I'm hands-on, you know that," Linda Will said Tuesday.

Linda Will, the mother of the late Northwestern University football player Rashidi Wheeler, has reunited for a second time with Chicago-based attorneys Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and James Montgomery, less than two weeks after she fired the high-profile legal team from her wrongful-death lawsuit against the university. A secretary in Montgomery's office said Thursday that the attorney had only a two-sentence reaction to the development: "Yes, she has returned. No further comment."

The family of late Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler has agreed to a financial settlement with three makers and distributors of the ephedra-containing products the player ingested in the hours before he collapsed and died on the practice field in 2001. Court documents show that Wheeler's family agreed to accept $75,000 -- equal payments of $25,000 from GNC, Phoenix Laboratories and Nutraquest Inc.