From PFT-
Quote:
Amid reports (per Chris Mortensen of ESPN) that the attorney for Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams will be filing suit on Wednesday and could sue both the NFL and the NFL Players Association were told that the NFLPA currently is plotting a challenge to the StarCaps suspensions, which would include an attempt to block the suspensions until the lawsuit is resolved.
The lawsuit, as we explained in a Tuesday night item for SportingNews.com, could include theories arising from the failure of Dr. John Lombardo, administrator of the leagues steroids policy, to disclose to players that StarCaps secretly contains a prescription medication. The suit also could allege that the NFL violated the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in suspending the players who took StarCaps, given that the league knew StarCaps secretly contained a banned substance and didnt specifically warn the players not to take it.
Technically, the steroids policy isnt part of the CBA. Instead, Article XLIV, Section 6(b) of the 2006 amendment to the CBA states that the existing policy will remain in effect, subject to modifications to which both sides agree.
Thus, to prevail on the latter count, the NFLPA would need to persuade the Court that the leagues failure to disclose its knowledge that StarCaps contains Bumetanide in some way violates the terms of the steroids policy. It could be an uphill climb, since the policy is clear players are responsible for what is in their bodies, and they are encouraged to use only those supplements that appear on the leagues pre-approved list.
The more intriguing possibility, in our view, is that the NFLPA will be sued as by two or more players while the NFLPA also is suing on their behalf.
Under the law, a union may be sued for breach of the duty of fair representation. The law requires proof of something more than mere negligence; the plaintiffs must show that the unions actions were arbitrary, discriminatory, or in bad faith.
The argument against the union apparently would be that agreeing to a procedure that allows the initial decision and the appeal to be controlled by the Commissioner of the NFL is per se evidence that the union behaved in an arbitrary manner and/or that the union exhibited bad faith as to any players who are accused of violating the steroids policy, the substance abuse policy, or the Personal Conduct Policy.
And, frankly, its hard for us to disagree. How in the hell did the union ever agree to let the league be the final arbiter of these appeals?
Its like having the prosecutor in the Plaxico Burress case also serve as the judge. And as the appeals court. And as each of the nine members of the United States Supreme Court.
So at a time when it appears that the league might be flexing its muscles under these policies in order to goad the union into offering major concessions during the next round of CBA talks in order to get the league to agree to refer the appeal hearings to a neutral arbitrator, the NFLPA might find itself liable to one or more players for failing to secure such a procedure in the first place.
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These Vikings are experts in the court system---Frankly, I don't think the league or the player's association stands a chance against them...they simply have way too much experience in Minneapolis :icon_smile: