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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NYC Exotic Dancers Entitled to More than $10M in Unpaid Wages

In a class-action lawsuit brought by about 1,900 exotic dancers, a federal judge in New York ruled Rick’s Cabaret, a strip club in Midtown Manhattan, should pay more than $10 million to the plaintiffs.  The lawsuit was filed four years ago by the dancers to recover unpaid wages from 2005-2012.  The decision follows a ruling from the same court last year that the dancers were considered hourly employees, not independent contractors as their employer argued.  The case is ready for trial in which jury …

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Fairness Hearing on NFL Concussion Settlement Concluded

On November 19, the opponents of the NFL concussion settlement had their last chance to object the deal before a U.S. District Judge Anita Brody.

The main argument for the opponents was that the cash award was limited to players who died with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (“CTE”) during a relatively small window of years.  Under the current plan, only players who were diagnosed with CTE before July 2014 would be eligible for up to $4 million.  Additionally, the diagnostic tests to determine eligibility for some …

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Law Professors Support NCAA’s Appeal in O’Bannon Case

On November 21, fifteen law professors filed an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court in support of the NCAA in its O’Bannon appeal.

The fifteen antitrust law professors argued that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilkin’s decision that the NCAA violated antitrust law was a misapplication of the “less-restrictive alternative prong” of the relevant analysis.

Referring to the “limited appellate authority” in defining the scope of the less-restrictive alternative, the professors stated that if the Circuit Court affirms Judge Wilkin’s judgment, it “would substantially expand …

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DEA’s Surprise NFL Inspections for Painkiller Misuse

On Sunday, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration conducted surprise inspections of various NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawk, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  The inspections were sparked by allegations asserted in a class-action lawsuit filed in May 2014 by several of the high-profile named players like Richard Dent, Keith Van Horne, and Jim McMahon.

The lawsuit alleged that team doctors and trainers routinely distributed addictive narcotics such as Percocet and Percodan and sleeping pills such as Ambien to players in …

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Keyshia Cole Back in Court for Late Night Melee

Platinum recording artist and reality television star, Keyshia Cole, was summoned to court on Wednesday, November 12, for battery and negligence allegations arising out of a 5 a.m. fisticuffs back in September.

The Grammy nominated artist went to see Cash Money CEO Birdman, who she is dating, around 5 AM at his West L.A. penthouse.  Inside, she found him with long-time friend and employee Sabrina Mercadel.  While the complaint states Birdman and Mercadel share a “plutonic [sic] relationship,” Ms. Cole was enraged and proceeded to …

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EX- Navy SEAL Sued His Former Lawyer over His Book about Mission to Kill Bin Laden

Mark Owen, a retired Navy Seal and author of a 2012 bestseller titled “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden,” filed a malpractice suit against his former lawyer Kevin Podlaski.

According to the complaint, the lawyer advised Owen that he had “no obligation to submit the Book to the Department of Defense or any other agency for a pre-publication review.”  Owen also alleged Podlaski claimed to have special expertise in dealing with military law and special operations issues.”  …

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WWE Becomes Latest Sports League to Face Concussion Litigation

On Thursday, October 23, Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment was added to the growing list of sports organizations facing concussion related litigation.  William Albert Haynes III, a former WWE wrestler, brought suit against the corporation with allegations similar to many other concussion lawsuits: that the WWE concealed and denied the medical research showing the effects of head trauma.

Haynes, known by his stage name “Billy Jack Haynes,” makes claims that follow most other concussion lawsuits claiming negligent misrepresentation, negligence, and liability for …

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Tennessee Titans’ Taylor Lewan Settles Charges Before Trial

Rookie Offensive Tackle for the Tennessee Titans Taylor Lewan settled his three pending assault charges during a pretrial conference on Thursday.  Lewan’s trial was set to begin on Monday, the 27th.

Taylor Lewan was facing one misdemeanor assault and two misdemeanor assault and battery charges arising from an altercation last December in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Hours after losing his last game as a Michigan Wolverine to Ohio State, Lewan allegedly hit ttwo men outside a restaurant known as the Brown Jug.  Lewan claims …

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