Judge denies most of Vikings' Williamses' claims

[HarveyWallbangers]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/vikings/2009-05-23-pat-williams-kevin-williams-lawsuit_N.htm?csp=34

Well, the federal judge rules mostly in the NFL's favor, but two issues will go back to state court. Perhaps the state judge will be transplanted Packers fan.

[Fritz]

This is one of those deals where I just don't care too much. I kinda hope they get to play. What the heck. Let's see how good this team is.

[Rastak]

Re: Judge denies most of Vikings' Williamses' claims

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/footb...t_N.htm?csp=34

Well, the federal judge rules mostly in the NFL's favor, but two issues will go back to state court. Perhaps the state judge will be transplanted Packers fan.

I think they'd appeal it all the way to the Minnesota supreme court and chief justice ALAN PAGE.

Anyway, Florio's take after reading the entire decision.

The Williams Wall Still Has A Case
Posted by Mike Florio on May 23, 2009, 10:04 a.m. EDT

For a guy who has practiced law nearly 18 years and who has followed the NFL for twice that amount of time, the periodic intersection of the two topics might prompt the question, “Is that a gavel in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

I’ve read every word of the 23-page opinion filed Friday by Judge Paul Magnuson in the StarCaps case. In lieu of writing one exhaustive post regarding what the opinion says and what it means, I’ll break it into several different blurbs.

Most importantly is the fact that Vikings fans should take heart. Defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams might still be available to play all 16 games this season.

The primary problem with the entire case (as I’ll explain in a subsequent post) is that the NFL Players Association challenged a drug testing program and discipline procedure to which the NFLPA agreed through collective bargaining. And since the program arose from collective bargaining and culminated in an arbitration decision that, as the union and the league agreed, was binding, not many avenues existed for overturning the outcome.

As a result, the league’s statement regarding the outcome is not surprising: “The decision strongly supports the NFL program on performance enhancing substances that protects the health and safety of NFL players and the integrity of our game.”

But the decision doesn’t completely support the league’s program on performance enhancing substances.

Collective bargaining agreements between management and employees supersede most “common-law claims,” which is the name given to legal theories developed and refined by courts through the resolution of specific disputes over a period of many years. However, a CBA cannot overcome clear rights given to employees through statutes enacted by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor.

In Minnesota, Kevin and Pat Williams have two separate statutory claims that will be sent back to Minnesota state court (where the judges are elected by the local citizens, most of whom are Vikings fans).

One claim arises under the Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act. As explained by Judge Magnuson, this law confines employee drug testing in Minnesota to the specific procedures permitted by the law itself. In other words, any testing or discipline not permitted by the law is not permitted.

As further explained by Judge Magnuson, the law prohibits employers from imposing discipline based on a single positive test.

Here, Kevin and Pat Williams tested positive only once, and under the league’s policy regarding anabolic steroids and related substances, a four-game suspension arises from that first positive test.

The law also gives employees the right to explain any positive test.

Here, no one has doubted that the players have a pretty good explanation for testing positive for a prescription diuretic that secretly had been added to the supplement known as StarCaps. The players were suspended not because they knowingly ingested a banned substance, but because the strict-liability policy to which their union agreed mandates suspension even if, for example, a closet Packers fan working beverage detail had slipped a banned substance into their Pepsi at a Minneapolis restaurant.

On the surface, then, it appears that the players still have a pretty good argument for avoiding a four-game suspension for an initial positive test.

Also, the Minnesota Consumable Products Act prohibits employers from taking action against employees who have “engaged in the use or enjoyment of lawful consumable products, if the use or enjoyment takes place off the premises of the employer during nonworking hours.”

In English, this means that Vikings players are entitled, per Minnesota statutory law, to consume away from the workplace and on their own time any supplements sold legally and lawfully. The fact that the U.S. government has done a traditionally dreadful job of regulating the supplement industry is not something for which Vikings players or other Minnesota employees are responsible. Under the Consumable Products Act, employees are entitled to consume on their own time and off the employer’s premises anything that can be legally purchased.

Although a literal application of this law would cause problems if, while parked on a public street ten minutes before his shift starts, an employee chugs a twelve-pack of beer, no such extreme twist or tweak applies in this case.

Bottom line? The case filed by these two starting defensive tackles for the Vikings will now return to a Minnesota state court for their state-law claims to be resolved. Ultimately, the issue could be decided in part by a former starting defensive tackle for the Vikings who holds a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court: Alan Page.

(Curiously, the lawyer representing Kevin and Pat Williams asked Judge Magnuson to keep the case in federal pursuant to the concept of “supplemental jurisdiction,” even though the lawyer initially filed the case in Minnesota state court. Our guess is that the lawyer was sufficiently confident that Judge Magnuson would have blocked the suspensions pending resolution of the state-law claims — and likely would have ruled in the players’ favor on the merits of the state-law claims.)

The next skirmish in this case likely will involve a request for the same “preliminary injunction” that the federal court imposed in December. This would allow the players to continue to participate in games pending the ultimate outcome of the case.

Of course, the NFL could chose to appeal that specific portion of the ruling and ask that all of the Williamses’ claims be pitched. It will be an uphill battle, however. The principles applied by Judge Magnuson in preserving the state-law claims are generally recognized by federal courts throughout the nation, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, our guess is that the NFL promptly will ask its lawyers to research the employee drug-testing laws for the 20 other states in which NFL teams are headquartered. It’s possible that both the steroids policy and the substance abuse policy ultimately will have to be revised to mesh with any applicable statutes passed by any state in which an NFL team plays its games. Until that happens, there’s a chance that certain players in certain states will have strong arguments to avoid the discipline that the league’s policies mandate.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Re: Judge denies most of Vikings' Williamses' claims

Anyway, Florio's take after reading the entire decision.

Florio is a Vikings fan. (Yes, I know he'll take pot shots at easy targets like Chilly and TJack.)

[Rastak]

Re: Judge denies most of Vikings' Williamses' claims

Anyway, Florio's take after reading the entire decision.

Florio is a Vikings fan. (Yes, I know he'll take pot shots at easy targets like Chilly and TJack.)

In other words, if Harvey is a Packers fan I should immediately discount his analysis when it comes to the Packers? :P


Anyway, this legal shit goes way over my head. Let the the chips fall where they may!

[HarveyWallbangers]

Re: Judge denies most of Vikings' Williamses' claims

In other words, if Harvey is a Packers fan I should immediately discount his analysis when it comes to the Packers? :P

Anyway, this legal shit goes way over my head. Let the the chips fall where they may!

Well, they may have a case, but I don't know that the ruling can be spun positively. They could still wiggle their way out of this, but I think the ruling puts them closer to a suspension. Luckily, the Vikes have three easy games to start the season, so at worst they might lose one game while missing those guys. It might be better for the Vikings if they lost those guys for the first four games over later in the year.

[SMACKTALKIE]

http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/

StarCaps Ruling A Harbinger Of A Work Stoppage?

Here is an interesting tid bit from the article.


“There is no doubt that it would have been preferable for the NFL to communicate with players specifically about the presence of bumetanide in StarCaps,” Judge Magnuson writes at page 18 of his opinion. “The NFL’s failure to do so is baffling, but it is not a breach of the NFL’s duties to its players. It is clear that this situation arose because the parties to these cases do not trust each other. The NFL does not trust the Union or the players. The players and the Union do not trust the NFL. No one believes that the opposing parties have any common interests. The situation is deplorable and leads to suspicion and the sort of no-holds-barred litigation tactics so clearly on view here.”

[HarveyWallbangers]

StarCaps Ruling A Harbinger Of A Work Stoppage

That's a good catch by Florio. I don't know that this ruling is a harbinger to anything though. The NFL and its players union have a long history of contentious negotiations--until Gene Upshaw took over. I suspect we'll see some tough negotiations and a possible work stoppage anyways.

[Tony Oday]

I would rather have Fat Pat and Kevin play...Big men get 4 weeks off at the start of the season against teams not dominate run teams and they will be fresh going into the last half of the season.

[CaptainD]

I don't really give a shit if they are suspended or not, but those Starcaps are known amongst the cognoscenti in weight lifting/'roid world as a semi-decent masking agent for 'roids. They are for women, btw... weight-loss- wise... And almost universally panned as worthless for weight loss. They are also renowned as a good test beater for other substances, specifically POT. It isn't even hard to figure out if you look at ALL of the guys that got busted for having them.

I looked into this heavily last year (It's where I first read about that kid that killed himself while the assholes mocked him) -- that was in a "'roids" section--largely, anyway--- of a fitness forum.

I cannot believe for one second that a professional athlete is unknowingly ingesting those particular pills for the efficacy of weight loss--- The hollywood-types were--but they are morons, imo.

NFL did a poor job in their dissemination of their policy regarding these particular pills. It was somewhat ambiguous. The cynic in me thinks that this very loophole was considered long before a single pill was popped.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I cannot believe for one second that a professional athlete is unknowingly ingesting those particular pills for the efficacy of weight loss

Agreed.

[FlashPack]

These players were in the wrong no matter what team they belong to. For all we know they could have been masking the fact that they are weed junkies. You never know. They took a chance and lost. If other players are using things such as this that are legal and they too an illegal one according to the NFL then they my friend are stupid for doing so. These guys get paid a lot of money to play this game and they should protect themselves from this possibility. They can hire all the dietitians they want to help them out but if big fatty still needs his pills to help make weight then that is a risk he will have to deal with

[RashanGary]

This is exactly what I thought would happen. After seeing the thing keep rolling on, I thought maybe I was wrong and it wasn't so cut and dry.

The NFL has a list of banned substances.
The NFL has a list of products that are guaranteed not to have any banned substances.

If an NFL player wants to avoid a positive test, all he/she has to do is take products on the approved list.


The Williams' went away from the trusted list. Starcaps turns out to be not trustable. If you want to work for the NFL, you agree that what goes in your body is your responsibility regardless of whether you knew what you were taking or not. They help you out by giving you a trusted list so there is never any worry. The Williams' chose to stray from the trusted list and clearly broke the rule (on accident but still preventable by just using the trusted list).

They should be held accountable to the agreement they signed when they said they wanted to play in the NFL. 4 game suspension. Should be a done deal.

[Rastak]

This is exactly what I thought would happen. After seeing the thing keep rolling on, I thought maybe I was wrong and it wasn't so cut and dry.

The NFL has a list of banned substances.
The NFL has a list of products that are guaranteed not to have any banned substances.

If an NFL player wants to avoid a positive test, all he/she has to do is take products on the approved list.


The Williams' went away from the trusted list. Starcaps turns out to be not trustable. If you want to work for the NFL, you agree that what goes in your body is your responsibility regardless of whether you knew what you were taking or not. They help you out by giving you a trusted list so there is never any worry. The Williams' chose to stray from the trusted list and clearly broke the rule (on accident but still preventable by just using the trusted list).

They should be held accountable to the agreement they signed when they said they wanted to play in the NFL. 4 game suspension. Should be a done deal.

There is no "trusted list". They have a marketing agreement with ONE manufacteror. Eight players tested positive before the NFL determined the thing was spiked with an FDA regulated drug. The FDA was not informed nor were the players. It's become clear to me that the NFL and the NFLPA have an extremely acrimonious relationship behind the scenes. I would have thought the entire policy would be more of a cooperative effort since many of these drugs are dangerous.


It's clear to me the appeals process if flawed and justice is meeted out in a fairly haphazard manner which does nothing but undermine the policy. The NFL claimed it wasn't in the least worried it's policy violated Minnesota state law then turned around and appealed, which I thought was rather funny. Never take anything a lawyer says as truth it seems.

[sharpe1027]

There is no "trusted list". They have a marketing agreement with ONE manufacteror. Eight players tested positive before the NFL determined the thing was spiked with an FDA regulated drug. The FDA was not informed nor were the players. It's become clear to me that the NFL and the NFLPA have an extremely acrimonious relationship behind the scenes. I would have thought the entire policy would be more of a cooperative effort since many of these drugs are dangerous.

It's clear to me the appeals process if flawed and justice is meeted out in a fairly haphazard manner which does nothing but undermine the policy. The NFL claimed it wasn't in the least worried it's policy violated Minnesota state law then turned around and appealed, which I thought was rather funny. Never take anything a lawyer says as truth it seems.

Hypothetically speaking, you seem to suggest that if the NFL had no knowledge of Star Caps, then player's identical actions suddenly become wrong?

The NFL's mistakes don't make the players any less responsible. Both should be held accountable.

Frankly, allowing players to use ignorance as an excuse would undermine the policy. Word gets around on products like Star Caps, and there will almost never be a smoking gun. A player intentionally taking something like star caps for the masking effect simply plays dumb and gets off free. I don't think so.

I'm not sure what you think is so flawed and haphazard.