On November 3, 2017, former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) wrestlers filed an amended complaint for their concussion suit against WWE. The amended complaint is in response to a Connecticut federal judge allowing the wrestlers last month to file more succinct pleadings, despite stating she was more inclined to side with WWE. The case goes back to 2015 when WWE faced several lawsuits that alleged WWE concealed long-term health risks of repeated blows to the head and increased that danger by misleading injured wrestlers into …
Continue ReadingLATEST INSIGHTS
Ezekiel Elliott Gets Hail Mary; Set to Play on Sunday
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) emergency motion for a temporary order blocking Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension. The order blocks the six-game suspension for domestic violence that Elliott has faced all season and will allow Elliott to play in Sunday’s (November 5, 2017) game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Second Circuit Judge granted Elliott’s request to stay his suspension and the issue will be referred to the next available three-judge panel to expedite the appeal process. The National Football …
Continue ReadingNCAA Dribbles the Idea of Fundamental Internal Change
NCAA President Mark Emmert spoke to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics on October 30, 2017 and asserted that major changes are needed in college basketball to demonstrate to the public that the NCAA can properly run the sport. “We cannot go to the next basketball season without seeing fundamental change in the way college basketball is operated,” Emmert said. “The public doesn’t have sufficient confidence in any of us in terms of our ability to resolve these issues.” Emmert cited to a recent NCAA-commissioned …
Continue ReadingNFLPA Fumbles Emergency Stay of Ezekiel Elliott’s Suspension; Appeals to Second Circuit
In yet another move to try to delay Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension, the NFL Players Association made an emergency motion seeking a temporary order blocking the suspension. The motion came less than a day after U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, on October 30th, had denied the NFLPA’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block the suspension while the appeals process continues. Judge Failla quickly denied the request, saying it would “in effect … reverse [her] decision of [Monday] evening denying the NFLPA’s …
Continue ReadingWWE Alleges Attorney Improperly Solicited Wrestlers in Royalty Suit
On October 27, 2017, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE) accused attorney Matthew Peterson of soliciting former wrestlers to join a royalty suit against WWE. WWE requested the court compel Peterson to provide documents and testimony that were previously denied under claims of privilege and improper instructions not to answer questions during the deposition. Specifically, WWE seeks a March 2016 email from Peterson to plaintiff Scott “Raven” Levy, and the same plaintiff to testify about a meeting with co-plaintiff Marcus “Buff” Bagwell.
The lawsuits filed by …
Continue ReadingEzekiel Elliott Back on the Bench as Suspension Reinstated
After hearing arguments from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott’s request for a preliminary injunction to block his six-game suspension. The decision comes only two weeks after the same court had granted Elliott’s request for a temporary restraining order that had then frozen the suspension.
This was Elliott’s second request for a preliminary injunction since he received the suspension on August 11 following domestic violence allegations. The first request had been granted by …
Continue ReadingRutgers Goes on the Defensive in Trademark Infringement Suit
A New Jersey apparel company, Anger Sports, sued Rutgers University and an assistant head coach of Rutgers’ football team for trademark infringement earlier this month. Anger Sports, which owns the wordmark “Rare Breed Athletics,” registered its logos in May 2016. The company is alleging that the Scarlet Knights’ assistant head coach, A.J. Blazek, posted images on social media in February 2017 of a logo, confusingly similar to the Anger Sports logo, which is meant to represent the offensive line of Rutgers’ football team. The twitter …
Continue ReadingWashington School District Urges Ninth Circuit to Uphold its Suspension of Football Coach for Praying on Fifty-Yard Line
On October 13, 2017 Bremerton School District, a Washington state district, urged the Ninth Circuit to maintain its ruling that the school had the right to stop a football coach from praying on the field after games, hitting back at claims that the ruling was in opposition of the First Amendment.
In August, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction by the school’s former football coach Joseph Kennedy, who accused the school of violating his First Amendment rights by prohibiting him from …
Continue ReadingFlorida Law Professor Requests Argument Before Court on Sports Betting
On October 17, 2017, Florida State University professor Ryan Rodenberg asked the U.S. Supreme Court in an amicus brief to consider all of its options before ruling on a challenge to a federal sports betting ban. Rodenberg, whose research is in sports law analytics, requested the court to grant him five minutes in oral arguments to argue that the court should rule based on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) without ruling on the law’s constitutionality.
Rodenberg’s amicus brief is his latest …
Continue ReadingClass Action Concussion Suit Earns a First Down Against Pop Warner Youth Football
Parents in a class action suit gained yardage against Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc, the nation’s largest youth football league. On Friday, October 20th, 2017, California U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez refused to blow the whistle on claims that Pop Warner failed to institute league-wide guidelines and increased the risk of head injury to its players. “Pop Warner Little Scholars argues that the fraud claims fail because head trauma is an inherent risk of tackle football,” the judge wrote, but what the parents …
Continue Reading