A group called the “National Football League Players’ Reserve” filed a document entitled “motion to stay Judge Nelson’s lockout order” with the 8th Circuit Court Of Appeals. It looks like the group is attempting to intervene in the case Brady v. NFL.
This group is a bit of a mystery. The NFLPR identifies itself in the document as “a separate single entity nominative fair use organization whose reference and interests pertain to collegiate rookie football players entering the ranks of the National Football League.”
The filing was made without counsel by the group’s president David R. Flood who is not a stranger to litigation with the NFL. Flood in 2008 sued the NFL, NFL Films, the Raiders and Reebok attacking, among other things, the legality of the moving the Giants to New Jersey. That lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice.
The NFLPR in its filing said the rookies should not be allowed to use NFL facilities because they were not members of the union prior to its decertification and that current players have the right to revoke their union dues. It also contains a nonsensical paragraph about television contracts, which are not relevant in the case before the Circuit Court.
For now the lockout continues as we await a ruling from the Circuit Court on whether to lift the stay of the lower courts decision that ended the lockout while the Brady v. NFL antitrust lawsuit continues.
