David v. Goliath: Another Suit Brought Against MLB by Minor Leaguers

Four minor league players filed an antitrust lawsuit in San Francisco federal court against Major League Baseball (MLB), claiming that the league’s right of first refusal to resign the players impair their ability to negotiate when their contracts expire.

Calling the league a cartel, the complaint said the players are “powerless to combat the collusive power of the MLB cartel.” It further claimed that “MLB continues to actively and openly collude on many aspects of minor leaguers’ working conditions,” including wages and contract terms. Especially, …

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Bookie Pleads Guilty to Extorting Thomas Vanek

The second bookie involved in a Rochester, NY gambling ring pled guilty to illegal gambling, extortion, and money laundering conspiracies on December 5, 2014.  In his plea, Joseph Ruff, admitted to extorting Thomas Vanek for partial payment of Vanek’s gambling debts.  The plea comes months after Joseph’s brother Mark pled guilty in October.

The gambling ring was based out of a Rochester restaurant called Marina Restaurant & Bar but operated through the internet.  However, after the April 2014 indictment of three men, including Ruff and …

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Pistol Pete Lawsuit Put to Pasture

On Wednesday, December 3, 2014, Oklahoma State University and New Mexico State University defuse their duel over the classic ‘Pistol Pete’  mascot with a nominal licensing agreement.

OSU originally brought the copyright infringement lawsuit back in October, protecting its 80 year old trademark from the similar-looking classic NMSU logo.  In 2005, NMSU began to phase out the classic logo in favor of a widely unaccepted, but modernized ‘Lasso Larry.’  The New Mexico State Aggies now use an updated version of  a pistol-toting cowboy that avoids …

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The Problem of Earning Too Much Too Fast

It is not uncommon to hear about sports stars and entertainers going broke.  Often, with the influx of large sums of money, they are clueless how to handle and preserve it wisely.  This is especially true with younger athletes.

Many athletes land multimillion dollar contracts at a young age, sometimes right out of high school.  At such a young age, these athletes have little to no financial experience.  Yet, suddenly they find themselves thrust into a situation requiring a significant amount of knowhow.  They have …

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Bill Cosby: Accuser Out for Money

In a court filing submitted on Thursday, Cosby’s attorney Martin Singer accused Judy Huth, an alleged sexual assault victim of Cosby, filed a suit in California after the comedian refused her “outrageous demand for money in order not to make her allegations public.”  Further, the demand apparently increased from $100,000 initially to $250,000.

According to the lawsuit filed last Tuesday, Huth alleged that in 1976 Cosby made her and her friend drink beer and took them to the Playboy Mansion where he sexually assaulted her. …

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Minimum Wage Lawsuits Strike At the Core of Major Junior Hockey and Minor League Baseball

Many would argue that minor league baseball is the quintessential American sporting experience – playing for the love of the game in small towns throughout the country, dreaming of the big leagues, or playing out the string.  Similarly, nothing may be more distinctively Canadian than major junior hockey – the primary breeding ground for future NHLers for generations and the pride of Canadian communities from Cape Breton to Victoria.  The two share more than long bus rides and long odds.  They both are the subject …

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Creedence Clearwater Mark Revisited

There’s a bad moon on the rise once again for John Fogerty.  Fogerty, the former lead singer and guitarist for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Creedence Clearwater Revival, and a man who holds the distinction as being perhaps the only musician in the history of recorded music to be sued for allegedly plagiarizing his own recording in another one of his own recordings, finds himself feelin’ blue again, having been sued last week by his surviving former bandmates, Doug Clifford and Stu …

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Group of Ex-NFL Players Files Written Objections to NFL’s Proposed Concussion Settlement

On December 2, 2014, a group of ex-NFL players refusing the $765 million concussion settlement filed their objections with Judge Brody of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The written objections to the settlement come two weeks after a fairness hearing was held to determine the fairness of the deal preliminarily agreed to in July.  The settlement was approved by 99% of the roughly 21,000 players in the class, however, some players feel the settlement is simply not enough.

The  main …

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Adrian Peterson’s Appeal Hearing in Progress: No Settlement Offers on the Table

An appeal hearing to review Adrian Peterson’s indefinite suspension is underway in New York.  While ordering Troy Vincent, NFL’s executive vice president for football operations, to testify on December 4, Arbiter Harold Henderson also urged the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to settle the issue regarding Peterson.  According to ESPN, there has been no offers on the table yet.

Vincent was ordered to testify after the NFLPA submitted a recording of a phone conversation between him and Peterson where Vincent offered Peterson that …

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NFL Concussion Suit: Lead Plaintiffs Inadequately Represent Interest of Class Members

Public Citizen Inc., a public interest advocacy group, filed an amicus brief arguing that the two leading plaintiffs Kevin Turner and Shawn Wooden insufficiently represent the interest of the more than 22,000 putative class members in the NFL concussion lawsuit.

The group said in the brief, “[The federal rule governing class certification] does not allow class counsel, representing only two of several necessary subclasses, to make decisions that they and defendants accurately describe as a compromise among the disparate interests of 20,000 class members with …

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