Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
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“Chapman High School, whose athletics teams have been known as the Fighting Irish since 1967, has been formally asked by the University of Notre Dame to change its leprechaun logo due to the college’s trademark on the image.” [Yardbarker]
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While a player “was having a catch with fans in the stands,” one of the fans had an inaccurate throw and injured a bystander. Clearly time to crack down on — if not ban entirely? — such playful throwing sessions. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Following a battle of the medical experts, a jury tells the UCF Athletics Association to pay $10 million in the death of a student player who “collapsed and died following offseason conditioning drills at the UCF football complex.” [Chicago Tribune]
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“A former Indianapolis Colts cheerleader is suing the organization, claiming they discriminated against her when they fired her for posing in risqué photographs.” [Indianapolis Star]
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“Music blasted over the public address system during Washington Redskins games is part of the entertainment experience, and deaf fans should have access to the lyrics of those songs, a federal appeals court has ruled.” [Leigh Jones, National Law Journal]
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The better to sue, it seems [Marcia McCormick/Workplace Prof]:
The NFL Players Association is seeking player approval to decertify in advance of a potential lockout by owners in March when the current collective bargaining agreement expires, according to the SportsBusiness Journal. Decertifying would allow players to sue the owners under antitrust laws if the owners did lock the players out. And any effort to impose a labor agreement on the players could provide the players with treble damages.
This was the tactic the players resorted to in 1989, and it eventually gave them enough leverage to establish free agency in 1993, when the players recertified the association as their exclusive representative.
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Is it imperiled by a recent Supreme Court decision? A paper to be presented at the Cato Institute’s Sept. 16 Constitution Day conference looks into the question. [Josh Wright, Truth on the Market; date now fixed]
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“Southern California coach Lane Kiffin says he was surprised by the lawsuit filed against him and USC by the Tennessee Titans after he hired away one of the NFL team’s assistant coaches.” [AP, more, via Miller]
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In addition to the main questions of proof of causation, assumption of risk, and so on raised in yesterday’s NYT story, there is this window into a little-known but well-developed area of forum-shopping:
…California’s workers’ compensation system provides a unique, and relatively unknown, haven for retired professional athletes among the 50 states, allowing hundreds of long-retired veterans each year to file claims for injuries sustained decades before. Players need not have played for California teams or be residents of the state; they had to participate in just one game in the state to be eligible to receive lifetime medical care for their injuries from the teams and their insurance carriers.
About 700 former N.F.L. players are pursuing cases in California, according to state records, with most of them in line to receive routine lump-sum settlements of about $100,000 to $200,000. This virtual assembly line has until now focused on orthopedic injuries, with torn shoulders and ravaged knees obvious casualties of the players’ former workplace. …
Because of the legal environment, the relatively new Arena Football League has avoided locating any of its teams in California.
P.S. Related Times piece on two California lawyers who have brought in “awards that probably total more than $100 million” for players. “Many retired players consider Owens and Mix heroes among their own for essentially finding cash under a mattress; others see an assembly-line process in which players do not fully understand the implications of the settlements.” And some teams have attempted to remove the proceedings to states other than California.
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Adam Goldberg and Joshua Galper note the commendable spectacle of a prosecutor — District Attorney Fred Bright of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit in Georgia, leading the probe into charges against Pittsburgh Steeler Ben Roethlisberger — actually waiting until the results of his investigation are in before blaring them to the press. [HuffPo via Legal Ethics Forum]
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Unauthorized use of “Who Dat?” and a fleur-de-lis. [Peter Finney, Times-Picayune/NOLA] More: and a cartoon.
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Florida’s Sugar Bowl blowout of Cincinnati (the game wasn’t even as close as its 51-25 final score, given the 37-3 third quarter lead) is a rebuke to efforts to regulate the BCS, though admittedly the US would be better off if Congress dropped its current agenda and spent 2010 in hearings and debates over the optimal means of determining the college football champion.
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Individual liberty, free markets, and peace: the world's premier libertarian think tank. Publishes Cato at Liberty, where I blog on contemporary policy issues.