Article: New Lawsuit Against NFL Could Force Return to Negotiations

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports is reporting a new lawsuit against the NFL, this one filed by retired players, that he thinks could be a game-changer in the ongoing legal battle between the league and the players.

Eller v. NFL, obtained by Yahoo! Sports, is similar to the current Brady, et al v. NFL. However, it is based on a potentially clever legal maneuver that could box the league into a corner and prove a significant development in ending pro football’s nearly month-long labor impasse.

The former players’ suit also covers draft-eligible prospects, who aren’t represented by the NFL Players Association under the previous collective bargaining agreement. As such, these plaintiffs could potentially avoid one of the league’s chief counterarguments against the Brady lawsuit – that the union illegally decertified.

The league is basing its legal strategy around the claim that the NFLPA's de-certification is a sham. If that claim is honored in court (a ruling that Adam Schefter doesn't expect until mid-April at the very earliest), the players could be ordered to reconstitute as a union, and the ruling would move from the courts to the National Labor Relations Board. Since the last CBA included stipulations that the NFL could not make the exact "sham" argument that it's making, some experts are calling the NFL's stance an artifice or a stall - basically a sham in itself - and a transparent attempt to shift leverage back to itself.

Eller v. NFL, however, could provide a workaround for the "sham" argument by bringing in a new group - draft-eligible college players - who have nothing to do with the NFLPA until they're drafted. If the court upholds the claim that the lockout is affecting their future as well, the league would have to deal with the ramifications without being able to fault the former union. That would remove one of the owners' main counter-arguments and make it much more profitable to simply work out a deal with the players themselves.

Some quotes from the case's lead attorney, Michael Hausfield:

“These players have an antitrust claim,” Hausfeld said. “They’ve essentially staked the pursuit of a career on being eligible for the NFL.

“The owners have shut down their potential employees through a concerted boycott,” Hausfeld continued. “[The suit is] going to avoid the main thrust of the owners’ defense and their argument that the matter should be settled by the [National Labor Relations Board] not in the courts.”

“How silly is it to have a draft in April and then say, congratulations, you’re locked out?” he asked.

Hausfield apparently has a strong legal reputation. With lawsuits now coming at the NFL from multiple directions, even if some of them are long shots, the league has rising pressure on it at the very least.

The plaintiffs in the case are Carl Eller, Priest Holmes, Obafemi Ayanbadejo, and Ryan Collins.

NFL Antitrust Case Handed to District Judge Susan Nelson

In what could change the entire face of the NFLPA's antitrust suit against the NFL, the case has been handed to federal judge Susan Nelson - not David Doty, as most originally assumed would happen.

Nelson has scheduled the first hearing on the lockout injunction for April 6. This is actually fairly rapid, in terms of the usual judicial pace.

Nelson is a district judge for the District of Minnesota and was appointed a federal district judge last December, having served as a magistrate (the next level down) since 2000. She was nominated for the district seat by President Barack Obama.

Details of her legal history are hard to find (which may be a good thing), but she apparently litigated against big tobacco in a major case between the industry and the state of Minnesota. She's been known to make political contributions to members of the Democratic party.

The website for a Democratic senator who helped recommend Nelson says Nelson has "a reputation for being thorough, prepared and possesses a unique ability to bring parties together to resolve legal disputes."

Nelson's experience with the NFL includes the case "Dryer vs. NFL", involving the rights of former players to be represented in the league's video footage. She was still presiding when she was promoted to the District level and removed from the case.

This has the potential to re-shape the suit, as Doty was considered by some to be a shill for the NFLPA whom the league owners were desperate to edge out of the case. Doty will continue to hear the television revenue case until its resolution, as well as any damages claims proceeding from it.


Possibly unconnected is an Adam Schefter report that the NFLPA is now telling its players to boycott the draft. This would be very counterproductive. For further details involving the players' stance on Nelson and the negotiations in general, you might want to follow Doug Farrar's Twitter stream - he's getting some strong info from their conference call today, though very possibly with bias - expect a lot of he-said she-said this spring.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there's actually a site called "Judgepedia".


Sources: 

http://judgepedia.org/index.php/Susan_Richard_Nelson
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/11/03/13110/susan_richard_nelson_to_be_named_federal_judge
http://klobuchar.senate.gov/newsreleases_detail.cfm?id=324133&
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/dneagles/Next-step-set-in-NFL-labor-fight.html

NFLPA Officially Dissolved, Sends Labor Battle to Court

The inevitable has come. The NFL Players Association has decertified as of 2PM Pacific time today and no longer exists as a union, renouncing its authority to bargain on behalf of NFL players.

Despite a dizzying and rather funny series of 11th-hour Twitter skirmishes, the NFLPA and the league owners were unable to find common ground. With ten minutes until the 5pm ET deadline for decertification, the union gave the owners the ultimatum to release 10 years of audited financial information - heavily guarded information and the pivot point for all the negotiations thus far - or decertification would occur. The owners failed to agree in time, the deadline passed, and the union made good on its threat.

The greatest significance of the union ceasing to exist is that it removes the league's protection against antitrust lawsuits brought on by the players, who can now seek a legal injunction that would prevent the lockout threatened by the owners. This is serious power on the part of the players, especially in light of the fact that the overseeing judge, David Doty, has a history of decisions favoring the players.

In other words, this does not rule out a 2011 NFL season. It also does not affect the draft, which will occur as normal. It does, however, forebode a long and ugly courtroom fight, an unpredictable and labor-dominated offseason, hazy and false information typical to high-profile courtroom cases, and leftover animosity that could sow the seeds for another labor dispute years down the road - as the last dispute did for this one.

We here at 17 Power will provide any pertinent headlines and opinions on the labor dispute that come forth, but our main goal is to strive to remain focused on the draft and the Seahawks during this time. Someone has to keep the Internet sane.

UPDATED Thursday Links

I'll have some original (and controversial, and possibly unpopular) content up on Monday. Another installment of the "Looking Back" series will arrive on Saturday, I think.

Meanwhile, on this final day of the CBA that we've enjoyed for 18 years, a few Seahawks happenings. Check back for updates!

• UPDATE: The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a 24-hour extension of labor talks. This move is being popularly seen as a stepping stone to a longer extension, and at the very least as increasing goodwill between the two sides. Brian McIntyre also optimistically notes that the last such extension during a labor dispute (in 2006) eventually led to a new agreement.

• UPDATE: TE Chris Baker was cut by the Seahawks. Baker's disappointment as a receiving threat and the emergence of Cameron Morrah made this a non-surprise.

• QB Matt Hasselbeck has rejected Seattle's latest contract offer, and ESPN's John Clayton has reported that the two sides aren't anywhere close to an agreement. It appears that Seattle is trying to keep Hass's contract lean and incentive-laden to give them the ability to opt out easily if Matt can't produce, which has to be a consideration given his dropoff in the last three years. Hass, on the other hand, seems to think he can keep playing.

• The Seahawks have waived QB Nate Davis, reports Brian McIntyre. Davis' brief acquisition from the 49ers seemed to indicate the importance of the QB position to the team, but apparently Davis hasn't shown what he needed to. It could also mean that Seattle is confident in its ability to either re-sign Matt Hasselbeck or replace him through the draft.

• Anyone looking to understand the CBA chess game between the league and the players absolutely must give this ESPN article a read. It does a great job of taking the obtuse legal wording and various scenarios in the CBA drama and reducing them to layman's terms.

• Rob Staton of Seahawks Draft Blog has another piece up on Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett. Rob has carefully modulated his words to show neutrality on the guy and avoid becoming a Mallett shill; what he's really addressing are the lazy journalism and raging groupthink that have dogged Mallett for months.

• LG Robert Gallery, former protege of new Seahawks O-line coach Tom Cable and potential free agent of interest for Seattle, has confirmed that he'll be leaving the Oakland Raiders.

The Effect of the Draft on a CBA

Fan angst will ramp up as the CBA deadline looms, as will player uncertainty. I remain convinced that all of this is absolutely necessary from the owners' perspectives; their demands are big and across the board for a reason. I don't fear a long-term lockout, but a lockout of some length is mandatory if the two sides are going to see just how entrenched the other really is.

So, what if the draft comes and goes and no CBA has been reached? I personally see that as unlikely, because just as the March 3rd lockout date puts players and free agents in particular over the proverbial barrel, the draft date puts front offices over a barrel all their own. Other than the few big-name free agents every year who get top dollar, most free agent signings or re-signings are of the role player variety, thus eliminating or postponing a team need that HAS to be addressed in the draft. Since teams will be without the ability to re-sign even their own free agents, all 32 teams would go into the draft with more needs than picks. Postponing free agent signings until after the draft would leave agents and players with too much leverage over front offices desperate to fill roster talent deficiencies they were unable to fill during the draft.

So think of it this way: A lockout lasting until roughly Combine time or thereabouts is good for the owners, as that time period will evaluate the real cohesiveness of the players union.

A lockout lasting until after the draft would leave free agents with substantially more monetary leverage when a labor agreement is actually reached. Not to mention that the NFL likely does not want the prime time draft to be dominated by talk of the lockout and the inevitable millionaire vs. billionaire talk, and the always audible average joe complaints about spoiled athletes not being grateful for what they have got, etc, etc, etc.

One other factor: The excitement following the draft is often used to drive season ticket sales in places where fan interest has been flagging due to poor results. No labor agreement will effectively kill those ticket sales.

Guessing Seattle's Offseason Strategy

February 7th is the date that NFL teams will be able to cut players under contract. March 3rd is the date free agency would normally begin, but it's pre-empted this year by the lapse of the league's Collective Bargaining Arrangement. No business can be conducted after that date - signing free agents, trading players, or any kind of negotiations.

In other words, teams have only three weeks to tweak their roster this year unless the NFL gets a new CBA in place - which, depending on whom you listen to, could be tomorrow or sometime in 2012.

This deadline has teams scrambling to sign players to futures contracts, stocking up on spare parts like my family loading the basement with canned green beans before Y2K. Futures contracts are given to players for 2011 who weren't on a team in 2010 and usually involve the kind of fringe talent that Seattle saw a lot of in 2010.

How will the situation affect the Seahawks' strategies of finding players? Will Seattle keep up its usual frenzy of wheeling-and-dealing in the three weeks that NFL business can still be conducted? Or will they stay relatively quiet in order to make the most out of the draft? There could be a way for us to predict their strategy by looking back on last year and getting a feel for GM John Schneider's modus operandi.