Bernie Parrish on Judge Alsup’s Final Orders
On November 23, 2009, in San Francisco, California, Federal District Court Judge William Alsup rendered a blistering set of three orders approving the settlement agreement in Parrish & Adderley vs. NFLPA Players Inc. However, in rendering the orders, Judge Alsup said of the award of attorneys’ fees, “When combined with the expense reimbursement below, counsel is receiving approximately 25 percent of the value of the settlement. This figure adequately compensates counsel for the work performed in this action. A reasonable fee in light of the ultimate recovery obtained for the class, and is reasonable in light of the missed opportunity for an even higher recovery.”
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Judge Alsup criticized Manatt and McKool, both of which are now touting themselves as “sports attorneys,” for (1) Counsel’s “failure to lay the proper foundation for critical evidence”; and (2) “Counsel’s failure to present a plausible damages theory on plaintiff’s claim for breach of fiduciary duty.”
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In approving the class action, Judge Alsup received fifty-three letters from class members and non-class members. Only two of the letters praised the settlement reached by Manatt and McKool. The judge states that of the remaining letters, most did not make cogent arguments to the fairness of the settlement and “over half of these letters were ‘form letters’ drafted by a non-class member. Moreover, a majority of the objections were signed by non-class members, whose rights are unaffected by this action.”
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No attorney in practice would be happy to have such a set of orders issued by a district court judge. It appears as if the judge is telling the members of the class the attorneys committed malpractice and did not represent the class diligently, which could lead to bar complaints to the California and Texas bars.
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However, so there’s absolutely no misunderstanding: Judge Alsup has approved the settlement.
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But this battle is a long way from being over; it is still “us” against “them.” Over the next week to ten days, I will explain to you exactly who “them” includes and who we – “we” together – need to take on next. “Only two of the letters (to the Judge) praised the settlement reached by Manett and McKool.” That is to say only 2 out of 2050 retired players in the Berthelsen/Kessler-selected GLA group approved of the settlement. This case is in many ways a travesty of justice particularly when we know Kelly Skubick, the young lady servicing the Players Inc. GLAs said in Oct. 2008 that she served over 3,000 retired players included in Players Inc. Group Licensing operation. Miss Skubick has mysteriously disappeared from her $65,000 a year dream job and the Players Inc. office says they don’t know where she went. We intend to locate her soon.
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This is only the first small learning experience. There will be more real victories stemming from this case in the future.
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Irv Cross
December 1st, 2009 at 12:17 pm #
Bernie:
Fantastic job! Thanks for all you do!
Irv Cross
1961 – 1969
Philadelphia Eagles & LA Rams
Bob Grant
December 4th, 2009 at 2:40 pm #
It’s time for everybody to wake up and realize that this bad settlement ending does not have to be the end. If we stand with Bernie and back him, I see no reason why a Class could not be put together to go after EA that would be willing to split the award up among every single living player.
Each and everyone of you was a proud fighter when you played and I’m betting that most of you still are and obviously Bernie Parrish is too. As long as he’s willing to go out there and fight for me, I’m going to go out there and fight with him.
Bob Grant
Independent Retired Player Activist-Advocate