On Friday the Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit ruled that NFL players may proceed with their claim of collusion against the National Football League and the individual teams.
The class counsel under the Reggie White settlement agreement and the NFL Players Association, on behalf of the NFL players, filed the collusion complaint against the NFL and the teams in May of 2012 with the United States District Court of Minnesota.
Pursuant to the Reggie White Settlement Stipulation Agreement (SSA) from 1993, NFL owners agreed that the 2010 season would not be subject to a salary cap and that they would not circumvent the SSA. According to the union’s complaint, however, NFL owners “engaged in a secret, collusive and circumventing agreement, whereby each of the 32 clubs agreed to suppress player salaries—including by imposing a secret $123 million per-club salary cap for that uncapped 2010 season.”
The lawsuit claims, in part, that each of the 32 NFL clubs conspired to suppress player salaries by imposing a secret salary cap during the uncapped 2010 season. The NFLPA alleges the league’s actions cost the players more than $1 billion.
In December of 2012, U.S. District Court Judge David Doty issued an order, denying the NFLPA’s request to reopen the 1993 class-action lawsuit that was closed when the new collective bargaining agreement was reached in July 2011. The NFL contended from the start that the new CBA prohibited the players from suing.
Four teams, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys, Oakland Raiders and New Orleans Saints, were penalized by the NFL for overspending in the 2010 season. The NFLPA says that at least 28 of the 32 NFL clubs fully or materially complied with the collusive salary cap during the 2010 league year.
In its filing, the NFLPA claims that pursuant to the SSA, “the players are entitled to compensatory damages and an additional amount equal to two times such compensatory damages, which would result in SSA damages of up to $3 billion or more.” The complaint alleges a violation of the SSA, not of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
With the favorable ruling by the Eighth Circuit, the NFL Players Association is focused on the discovery process. “Through discovery and a hearing, we can understand how collusion took place. We have notified the NFL of its obligations to preserve all relevant documents and communications.”
The appeals court wrote that its “holding should not be read as in any way expressing a view on the merits …. only that the Association should be given the opportunity to meet this burden.”
The discovery process requires the NFL to turn over any and all communications with the teams during and before 2010 about the unwritten rules of the uncapped year. The league will likely try to have the case dismissed before turning over documents to the players like it did in regard to financial records during the CBA negotiations.
In a statement issued to ProFootballTalk the NFL said, “As the Court emphasized, today’s decision is entirely procedural in nature. Far from validating the Union’s claim, the Court specifically highlighted the heavy burden that the NFLPA faces in establishing this claim, and we remain highly confident that the claim will be dismissed yet again.”
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