Judge Susan Richard Nelson will begin hearing arguments in her
Minneapolis courtroom on Wednesday in the case that will go a long
way in determining when and if the NFL returns to business.
By Vinny Ditrani – The Record (Hackensack N.J.)
Judge Susan Richard Nelson will begin hearing arguments in her Minneapolis courtroom on Wednesday in the case that will go a long way in determining when and if the NFL returns to business.
The 59-year-old U.S. District Court judge for the District of Minnesota eventually may decide whether the owners’ current lockout is – as Tom Brady and some other top players claim in their antitrust suit – causing the players “irreparable harm” and must be terminated.
She is a graduate of liberal-leaning Oberlin College in Ohio and was a litigating attorney in Minnesota’s $6.1 billion settlement from the tobacco industry as well as cases against Ford and Jeep. Her background appears to favor labor, but those who know her insist she will be fair in her dealings.
Having read a myriad of documents from both sides, Nelson simply could grant the players the injunction they desire, forcing owners to open their doors and allow the players back into the facilities. The league then could appeal or continue under the rules of the 2010 season, which included no salary cap, but required six years of service for unrestricted free agency.
Nelson more likely will listen to the lawyers from the two sides who could not come to an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement last month. That prompted the NFL Players Association to decertify March 12, so Brady, Peyton Manning and eight others could institute this class-action suit in the jurisdiction where the players won their greatest legal battle, the right to free agency, the last time they decertified.
The owners will argue this is a labor dispute, not an antitrust matter, and therefore not a matter to be litigated. They claim the decertification is a “sham” so the NFLPA would not have to bargain in good faith, and that the National Labor Relations Board should be the one to rule on the impasse.
If Nelson doesn’t grant the injunction, the lockout will continue, and once the NFL Draft concludes later this month, the league will have no more football business. If the injunction is granted, business could return to normal unless either Nelson or the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit – which would hear the league’s appeal – grants a stay of that injunction.
