Judge Rules Williams Wall Must Serve Garbage Four-Game Suspension

The NFL and MLB have both lost players who abused energy and/or weight loss supplements in the heat. The NFL has stepped up enforcement of this sort of thing because of Stringer’s death.

Any reputable doctor will advise against supplements for quick weight loss and will answer that any sort of quick weight loss is not good for the body. A reputable doctor will always recommend USDA approved substances over unregulated supplements which, by their nature, do not meet federal safety standards.

Taking water pills to temporarily make a weight which generates a bonus and/or prevents a cut is fraud.

Here is a full article from the AP:

Minn. judge sides with NFL in StarCaps case
By STEVE KARNOWSKI (AP) – 53 minutes ago

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota judge handed the NFL victory Thursday in a closely watched lawsuit by two Minnesota Vikings challenging their four-game suspensions for violating the league anti-doping policy.

Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson said the league broke state law in applying its drug policy, but that wasn’t enough to block the punishment.

The decision doesn’t necessarily clear the way for the NFL to suspend Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, and their lawyer claimed victory. The judge scheduled a Thursday afternoon hearing on whether to grant a temporary injunction pending the players’ appeal.

The NFL first attempted to suspend the defensive tackles in December 2008 after they tested positive for a banned diuretic that was in the StarCaps weight-loss supplement they were taking. They were not accused of taking steroids.

The players challenged their suspensions while their lawsuit played out through numerous twists and turns in federal and state court. They got to play for the entire 2009 season, helping Minnesota reach the NFC championship game, where they lost to eventual Super Bowl winner New Orleans.

Larson ruled that the NFL violated a three-day notice requirement under a state law governing drug testing in the workplace, but that the players weren’t harmed by it. He also ruled that the Williamses had failed to prove that the NFL violated the law’s confidentiality provision by leaking word of the positive drug tests. He denied their requests for a permanent injunction to block the suspensions.

The Williamses’ attorney, Peter Ginsberg, said the decision was a victory in that the judge ruled that the NFL was an employer of the players, violated the state law and must abide by it.

“The results are decidedly mixed,” he said. “All NFL players and the state of Minnesota have gained an important victory. No employer can stand above the law, including the NFL. We are obviously disappointed that, despite violating Kevin and Pat’s rights, the NFL still is threatening to suspend them. Kevin and Pat should be admired for the battle that they waged, not only for all NFL players but for all employees throughout the state of Minnesota.”

The Associated Press left messages with spokesmen for the NFL and the Vikings seeking comment.

If the NFL is ultimately allowed to impose punishment at the start of the upcoming season, the Vikings would be without the heart of their stout run defense for a quarter of the season. It wasn’t immediately clear, however, how long the appeals process might take.

Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League all filed briefs in support of the NFL’s position. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed a similar motion on its own.

The NFL and the other leagues argued that their own collectively bargained drug-testing programs would be at risk if state-level challenges like the Williamses were allowed to proceed. USADA argued that uniform rules are needed “to ensure a level playing field.”

The case dates to October 2008, when news leaked that several NFL players, including the Williamses, had tested positive for the diuretic bumetanide, which the NFL has banned because it can mask the presence of steroids.

The Williamses acknowledged taking the weight-loss supplement StarCaps the night before a weigh-in during training camp. StarCaps contained bumetanide but did not list it as an ingredient on the label. The players testified they would not have taken StarCaps if they had known it contained the banned drug.

One of the key issues in the trial was whether the Williamses, who are not related, were employees of the Vikings, the NFL or both, as they contended during the trial. The NFL had argued that they were Vikings employees only, so the league wasn’t subject to the state law. Larson disagreed, calling the NFL a “joint employer.”

It emerged in earlier proceedings that NFL officials had known that StarCaps contained bumetanide, but chose not to disclose that to players.

The NFL’s no-tolerance policy holds players responsible for knowing what they put into their bodies. While that was a key issue at earlier stages of the case, it wasn’t much of a legal factor by the time it finally went to trial before Larson on the narrower issues of notification and confidentiality.

AP Sports Writer Jon Krawczynski contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

By saying the league broke state law, isn’t he saying they can suspend them WITH PAY. He’s saying the CBA does in fact give them the authority over all players in the league. If suspended without pay wouldn’t they easily be able to sue for lost compensation in Mn. court. If they broke Mn. law, as the judge clearly states, they would win. ??

They have not chimed in on either side if I recall correctly.

I think the players may be able to sue Dr. Birch & the NFL for a violation of their civil rights or something like that because they knew a product was tainted and potentially dangerous and did nothing to warn players.

Even though they have not been harmed physically yet, whose to say if some other product comes along that the NFL will divulge the specifics.

I would serve the suspensions and then sue the NFL & Dr. Birch in civil court to get back their lost pay, lawyer fess, and for damages for failing to disclose information about a potentially dangerous product.

If they file their case in Minnesota they would almost be certain to win a jury trial (unless some of those jurists also did not give a rats arse about the stadium issue).

Of course I am no lawyer so I may not know what the hell I am talking about.

First off, and this was kind of being done all along, but I feel this severely damaged the leagues position when it comes to negotiating a new CBA over the next year. This “game of gotcha” especially will create deeper trust issues between a union of players and their employees. Which brings me to point two…

Namely, I see this hurting their antitrust lawsuit that is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. The NFL has been deemed a joint employer of the Vikings players. I don’t know a ton about law, admittedly, but my understanding is that is going to hurt the NFL’s position in their other case.

This blows! None of these players deserve four game suspensions over this when the league has so much fault in it. Yes, it was bad judgment for these players to resort to a supplement to shed pounds quickly, but does that warrant a blanket suspension the likes of which a steroid user would also get? My biggest problem with all of this is that this “one size fits all” suspension policy regarding drug testing is a lazy, unfair approach by the league. For something like this where players ingested a banned substance not listed on an over-the-counter supplement and was approved by the league not too long before when Deuce McAllister submitted it for testing and use in 2006, a four game suspension is completely unjust. I hope Goodell burns in Hell!

If one reads only the headlines, one might conclude the NFL won its case. Upon further review, it ain’t necessarily so.

First off, let’s cut to the chase: the judge’s conclusion:

“Based on Minnesota law and the facts adduced at trial, Defendant is Plaintiffs‟ employer for purposes of DATWA. Defendant violated DATWA‟s three-day notice requirement. Defendant‟s drug testing notice policy did not meet or exceed DATWA. However, Plaintiffs admitted that they did not suffer any harm from the delay in notice. Plaintiffs, therefore, may not recover for Defendant‟s violation. Plaintiffs failed to prove that Defendant violated DATWA‟s confidentiality provision. Plaintiffs‟ request for a permanent injunction is denied and this Court‟s previous temporary injunction is dissolved.”

So, we see the judge ruled that Pat and Kevin said they were not harmed by the NFL’s violation of Minnesota law with regard to the three-day notification period that its law requires, so no blood, no foul. (One might erroneously conclude from this that no act of honesty goes unpunished.) The judge also declared that Pat and Kev failed to prove through a preponderance of the evidence that it was the NFL which leaked the results of the drug tests, in violation of the NFL drug policy.

Since the judge is not responsible for using psychic powers to determine who leaked the test results and the NFL does not have to prove that it did not leak the results, and because Pat and Kev are indeed required by a drug policy previously negotiated between their union and the NFL to have almost psychic powers in order to analyze everything which they take by mouth to completely avert being suspended by the league to the same degree as those players have been caught actually doing steriods by the carload, the NFL skates merrily onward and is free to suspend Pat and Kev, because Pat and Kev have joined a sports circus where such are the established rules, and they have done so of their own free wills.

But the rules established of today are not eternal, and the judge was not very fond of how the NFL behaved.

Reading futher in his ruling, the Judge has assigned the NFL a few verbal punishments via the light of due process.

Here are his “kind” words regarding Roger Goodell:

“The Court does conclude, however, that the media leak was clearly of no importance to the NFL Commissioner, as he did nothing to determine that the NFL did not violate DATWA‟s confidentiality provision. The Commissioner did not conduct an investigation or make any inquiries into the matter.”

And here is the loving portrait his honor paints of NFL Vice President of Law and Labor Policy, Adolfo BIrch:

“Birch conducted a very brief investigation on his own concerning the leak. Birch concluded that no one from the NFL was involved in the leak, contrary to the newspaper reporter‟s assertion.” “Birch‟s single-handed investigation is highly suspect.”

With regard to the alleged “Independent Administrator”, Dr. John Lombardo, and how the NFL administered the drug policy after the NFL had learned that Bumetanide was illegally contained in StarCaps, the judge declared:

Birch "directed Lombardo to report any future players for discipline who tested positive for Bumetanide, even though their use thereof was inadvertent. Birch was playing a game of ‘gotcha.’ " Also, the judge said that “Birch usurped Lombardo‟s authority in deciding who to refer for discipline.”

Well, I guess there’s independent adminstration and then there is NFL-style independent administration.
 
What goes around comes around. The NFL by this decision is indeed subject to Minnesota law, even if that law and a dollar will leave you short at the register at Starbucks.

The NFL still has to deal with the NFLPA if there is to be a future NFL after 2011. The NFLPA has some ammunition that the NFL was not really acting in the players’ medical interests in its enforcement of the drug policy; it was instead playing CYA and Gotcha.

Time will tell, but my hunch is 2011 is going to be a barn burner.

Should sit for 6 if the vikings come out of the gates winning. Going to need him at full strength come playoffs. We’ll also find out exactly what we have in Jimmy K, Fred Evans and Leroy G. Robinson will probably play some DT in passing situations. Poor Brinkley going to have his hands full.

The team didn’t need them as badly at the end of ’08 as they are needed now.

Hey, here’s an idea: Show up at the proper effing weight for real as a result of working in the offseason, for which you are paid very well to do.

Millionaire crybabies are never going to have my sympathy.

Hopefully pre-season.;)

ok so pat & kevin had their day in court and i imagine there will be appeals … they took their stand and then were granted due process … lets move on … serve the four games and get back and take it out on the cheeseheads (lol) … whatcha ya all gonna think when the purple whip the saints in the superdome without pat and kevin … home then against the lions and the dolphins (remember 9 – 0 in ’09 at home) then a bye and at the jets for a tough one … vikes could still be 4 – 0 when pat and kevin get back for the goatropers week 6 for-cryin-out-loud … i do not think i would like to be a cowboy o-lineman that day … pat and kevin will be ready to eat guards and centers for lunch by then … not to mention what they will do to the newest artful-dodger-romo … then it will be a run to the playoffs … go vikes … cant wait

Why doesn’t he get reprimanded for withholding information from players? That’s bullshit.

And it can still be appealed, all the way up to the State Supreme Court. I don’t think Larson wanted to be the guy that completely invalidated every major sports league drug testing policy, so he gave the players a hollow victory, with an opportunity for a higher court to hear the case and determine whether or not a state drug testing policy supercedes a collectively bargained agreement.

It would be a huge, precedent setting case, to be sure.