May 17 2010
NFL Wants Supreme Court To Settle the StarCaps Case
After 18 months of legal battle, the NFL was able to get a favorable decision from the Hennepin court. District Judge Gary Larson of Hennepin County ruled last week that the NFL’s failure to inform the two players of their positive drug test violates the Minnesota state law. But the Judge added that the violation of the NFL does not prevent them from suspending the Minnesota Vikings players.
Judge Larson has not decided yet whether to extend the injunction blocking the 4-game suspension of the players because of a pending appeal. A decision is expected next week. The case was remanded to the state court by federal Judge Paul Magnuson saying that state laws may have been violated by the league’s drug testing and anti-doping policies thus it should be heard by a state court.
The decision of the lower court was not a total victory for the league. To avoid a similar Starcaps case in the future, the NFL asks the Supreme Court to make a ruling in favor of their drug policies. They are hoping that the high court will recognize the internal policy of the league as well as other sports organizations despite differing state laws and guidelines. The current ruling will give erring players a chance to use state laws in contesting suspension related to steroid use. This will become a big problem for the league.
In filing the case in the Supreme Court, the NFL said that the Eighth Circuit’s decision destroys the orderly and predictable negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements. “The Eighth Circuit’s erroneous pre-emption decision thus has turned federal labor law from a uniform and stable framework for labor-management relations into a legal Catch-22 in which employers are literally liable if they do comply with the collective bargaining agreement, and liable if they do not,” said the league in its court filing.
Peter Ginsberg, lawyer of the players, was not worried about the action of the National Football League. “We are confident that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals thoroughly and correctly analyzed the pre-emption issues,” he said to the AP. “We are also confident that the decision upholding the principle that the NFL is obligated to abide by the law of states where it does business — as are all other multistate entities — is consistent with the jurisprudence and important pillars of our system of justice,” Ginsberg added.
Other major sports league also supports the NFL in its bid to get a favorable decision from the Supreme Court. The Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League have the same stand with the NFL. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) also filed a separate similar motion.
The lawyers of the league argued that enforcing uniform drug policies will ensure fair treatment of the players. “For national sports leagues, enforcing uniform standards of player conduct is indispensable to ensuring a level competitive playing field. The piece-meal rewriting, state by state, of a national collective bargaining agreement eviscerates the uniformity and even-handedness in player qualifications that are essential to national sports leagues,” they said.
The case of the Minnesota Vikings players started when the league suspended them for a diuretic found on their system. The bumetanide, which is one of the ingredients of Starcaps supplement, can mask the use of steroids. The players contend that they were not informed that the supplement contains a banned substance. Two Saints players also faces the same sanction.
