“The U.S. Supreme Court refused to let a New York Jets fan sue the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick over the 2007 “spygate” videotaping scandal.” [Bloomberg, earlier]
Posts Tagged ‘football’
Redskins owner sues Washington City Paper
“Indeed, the cost of litigation would presumably quickly outstrip the asset value of the Washington City Paper,” wrote one Redskins official in a lawsuit-threatening letter to an investor in the alternative weekly. Not that owner Dan Snyder is a bully trying to silence his critics or anything! [letter from City Paper editor Amy Austin; Romenesko, TBD]
February 7 roundup
- Paper by Lester Brickman previews his much-anticipated new book Lawyer Barons [Mass Tort Lit, SSRN] More: Sheila Scheuerman, TortsProf.
- “A Players’ Class Action Against the NFL for Concussions?” [Russell Jackson]
- C’mon, DoJ, stop spreading domestic violence myths [Christina Hoff Sommers, USA Today]
- “Historians as Experts: A Plea for Help” [Bill Childs, TortsProf; related, Nathan Schachtman]
- Might not really work, though: “A call for aviation liability reform in South Dakota” [PoL]
- “Chevron Turns Tables on Ecuador Plaintiffs; Sues Them” [WSJ Law Blog, ShopFloor, more, yet more, NYLJ]
- Hedge funder plays race card against NYC’s famed Dakota co-op. How plausibly? [Business Insider]
- N.C. official: citizen who challenged road plans might be practicing engineering without a license [N&O]
December 28 roundup
- Making the rounds: letter on NFL stationery telling off lawyer over nastygram [DeadSpin, language]
- Suburban Detroit man faces possible 5-year sentence for reading wife’s email [Free Press, Volokh]
- U.K.: Scout Association found liable for injury sustained in scramble-in-the-dark game [Andrew Hough, Telegraph via Lenore Skenazy]
- Florida appeals court orders environmental groups to compensate taxpayers for unfounded complaint [Ryan Houck, TampaBayOnline]
- “Fix It Yourself Garage” self-service auto repair shop hopes it’s beaten the liability curse [McClatchy; Charlotte, N.C.]
- Much more from Peter Schweizer and Lee Stranahan at Big Government on dubious Pigford farmer settlement (“attempting to farm;” recruiting and “brokering” claims; FBI said to be interested; problems within USDA?; lawyer says Pigford clients often got away with faulty claims; earlier);
- “Faux concern for judicial ethics” [Jonathan Adler, Volokh, on Constitutional Accountability Center campaign against judges’ seminars]
- Founder of much-loved musical parody series thanks real-life artists whose works are being spoofed: “Without their reluctance toward lawsuits there would certainly be no Forbidden Broadway.” [six years ago on Overlawyered]
Why would a union favor its own decertification?
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.
Antitrust experts ponder NFL exemption
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]
Tennessee Titans sue USC football coach
May 27 roundup
- Third Circuit drop-kicks “spygate” football-fan class action against New England Patriots [Cal Civil Justice, Russell Jackson, earlier]
- “Watch Those ‘Jury Duty’ Tweets, People” [Lowering the Bar]
- Ninth Circuit Kozinski-O’Connor-Ikuta panel rules for free speech in big “hostile environment” workplace-discrimination case [Volokh first, second and third posts; Rodriguez v. Maricopa County Community College Dist., PDF]
- “Accused Catholic priests left in legal limbo” [Religion News Service/National Catholic Reporter]
- Suit against big plaintiff’s law firm: “Ex-Baron & Budd Lawyer Awarded $8.8M” [ABA Journal, Texas Lawyer, Above the Law]
- Keep politics out of doings of New Jersey Supreme Court? Cue riotous laughter [Paul Mulshine, Star-Ledger via Dan Pero]
- Report: rare genuinely-funny ads from injury law firm have boosted client leads 25% [Above the Law, earlier here and here]
- Thanks to law bloggers Byron Stier and Eric Turkewitz for joining others in noting my move to Cato
even if Wikipedia still hasn’t(and now Wikipedia has too).
Test case on NFL liability for players’ dementia
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.
News flash: prosecutor in celebrity case stays mum pending results
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]