February 18, 2020 Litigation / NFL / Rights

Ex-NFL Player Tries to Take Marijuana De-Scheduling Lawsuit to U.S. Supreme Court

Ex-NFL player Marvin Washington and a group of medical marijuana patients told the Second Circuit that they will attempt to get their marijuana de-scheduling lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) into the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2017, the patients sued the DEA, arguing that marijuana was improperly classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. Schedule I drugs, which include heroin and LSD, are treated by the DEA as having a high potential for abuse and no clinical value. The patients alleged that the DEA’s …

January 15, 2020 Fraud / Golf

Going for the Green: Investors Seek Win in Second Circuit

In 2014, shareholders of the for-profit corporation Winged Foot Holding Company (WFHC) filed suit alleging the company had breached its fiduciary duty under New York Business Corporation Law Section 720 and unjustly enriched itself. This suit stems from the WFHC Directors’ 2013 extension of a 1947 lease agreement to use the golf club grounds. Under the lease agreement, the annual rental payment is $30,000.

In their complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the shareholders alleged that WFHC’s …

January 14, 2020 Litigation / NFL / Rights

Second Circuit Throws Ex-NFL Player’s Marijuana De-Scheduling Lawsuit into Peril

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals told ex-NFL player Marvin Washington and other medical marijuana patients that it would not give them more time to ask the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to de-schedule marijuana.

In 2017, Washington and a group of cannabis patients sued then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, seeking marijuana legalization at the federal level. While numerous states have legalized both medical and recreational marijuana, it is still illegal under federal law, where it is classified as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin and LSD. …

October 31, 2019 Class Actions / Concussions / Litigation / WWE

Ex-Wrestlers Argue WWE Hid Risks of Head Injuries in Concussion Lawsuit

In a Second Circuit lawsuit, a group of former professional wrestlers argued that the statute of limitations did not lapse in their lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), as they knew about and hid the risks of head injuries.

As we reported earlier, 67 retired wrestlers sued WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon, arguing that WWE failed to protect the health of its wrestlers. As a result, these retired wrestlers suffered concussions, CTE, and other brain injuries. The lawsuit was dismissed in September …

November 16, 2017 NFL

Game Over for Ezekiel Elliott; Appeal at Second Circuit Dropped

Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott has accepted his six-game suspension and withdrawn his appeal at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, ending the battle that started in July 2016, when Elliott’s ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence. After a year-long investigation, his suspension was announced August 11, 2017. Elliott fought the suspension through three different courts, and got three reprieves that kept him on the field for the first half of the season.

He will sit out the next five games, and is set to return …

November 3, 2017 NFL

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 …

November 2, 2017 NFL

NFLPA 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 …

August 29, 2017 Baseball / MLB

Baseball Scouts Strike Out on Claims League Conspires on Low Wages

Former Kansas City Royals scout Jordan Wyckoff and ex-Colorado Rockies scout Darwin Cox urged the Second Circuit on August 24, 2017 to narrowly construe Major League Baseball’s long-held antitrust exemption to only those functions essential to the holding of actual professional baseball games. The three-judge panel was skeptical of the scouts’ oral arguments.

The dispute came up on appeal after the class action suit on behalf of 1,600 scouts was dismissed in September 2016 by the U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The complaint alleged that …

December 6, 2016 Concussions / Litigation / NFL

NFL Takes its Turn, Asks High Court to Not Review Concussion Settlement

A few weeks ago, it was the players. Now, the National Football League is asking the Supreme Court to not reject a deal between the league and roughly 20,000 former players dealing with systemic injuries of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The Third Circuit Court of Appeals expressly approved a settlement that was expected to provide the two certified classes with more than $900 million of relief. The approval of the settlement, authorized earlier this year, was met with resistance. A group of players petitioned the …

October 3, 2016 Concussions / Litigation

Getting Tossed Around: Second Circuit Dismisses Premature Appeal in WWE Concussion Lawsuit

On September 27, 2016, the Second Circuit dismissed a former WWE wrestler’s appeal, reasoning that the appeal needed to wait until he and the other wrestlers suing the WWE handle their claims in district court. The attempted appeal arose out of a lawsuit against the WWE for allegedly hiding the risks of traumatic brain injuries.

Back in May, William Albert Haynes III told the Second Circuit that he had the right to appeal the district court’s dismissal of his claims. Haynes argued that a …