Sports and Entertainment Law Insider™
Your All-Access Pass to the Latest Legal Developments Impacting the Business of Sports and Entertainment.
On February 5, 2018, the NFL, and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA), filed a motion to dismiss an antitrust suit brought by former sports agent James Dickey. As we have previously covered, Dickey accused the NFL and the NFLPA of stifling competition by implementing a rule called the “Three Year Rule” to keep new agents out of the NFL. In order for an agent to represent players the must be certified. To be certified, agents must negotiate at least one NFL team contract every …
Continue ReadingOn November 21, 2017, former NFL agent and lawyer James Dickey accused the NFL, the NFL Management Council, and the NFL Players Association of stifling competition by implementing a rule in 2002 to keep new agents out of the industry. The rule, which Dickey refers to as an unreasonable artificial barrier and which is enforced by the NFLPA, requires agents to negotiate at least one NFL team deal for every three year period in order to stay certified to represent NFL players. “The so-called three-year …
Continue ReadingThe 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 ReadingIn 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 ReadingAfter 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 ReadingSouth District of New York Judge Paul Crotty granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, October 16, 2017, blocking the NFL’s suspension of Dallas Cowboys’ star Ezekiel Elliott, pending a hearing before the presiding judge, Katherine Polk Failla, who is on vacation. Judge Crotty’s ruling that “irreparable harm” would be caused if Elliott served the suspension comes only five days after the Fifth Circuit had overturned the first injunction, issued by a Texas court, which had frozen Elliott’s suspension. The Fifth Circuit …
Continue ReadingErin Henderson, former New York Jets linebacker, sued the Jets on Friday, September 29, 2017, alleging the team wrongfully terminated his employment because of his bipolar disorder. He is seeking punitive damages along with $3.3 million in compensatory damages — the amount of his unpaid 2016 salary plus his non-guaranteed 2017 salary.
Henderson alleges the Jets placed him on the non-football injury (NFI) list on Oct. 22 without saying why, leading other teams to shy away from signing him, thinking it was related to previous …
Continue ReadingDallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and the National Football League’s Players’ Association (NFLPA) filed suit seeking to vacate the forthcoming ruling of an arbitrator on the appeal of Elliott’s six-game suspension in a domestic violence case. The suit, filed in federal court in Texas, alleges that the NFL’s appeal process is fundamentally unfair because the arbitrator denied a request to have Elliott’s accuser testify at the appeal hearing. Elliott also alleges that NFL executives hid information that was favorable to his case before Commissioner …
Continue ReadingAs expected when Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliot and the NFLPA hurriedly filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) on September 5, 2017, arbitrator Harold Henderson has upheld Elliot’s six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations. Elliot and the NFPLA had challenged the arbitration process, alleging it was fundamentally unfair. Henderson’s decision stated “[i]n a case involving violation of a policy, fair and consistent means whether the process and result were in compliance with the terms of that policy. This one is, in every respect.”
The TRO …
Continue ReadingDallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) filed a lawsuit and a temporary injunction in federal court on August 31, 2017 seeking to vacate an arbitration award before it is announced, after a three-day arbitration hearing with arbitrator Harold Henderson. The suit was filed in the face of anticipation that Henderson will rule in favor of the NFL rather than Elliot and uphold Elliot’s six-game suspension.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had imposed the six-game suspension on August 11 after a …
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