Dave Pear's Blog

Judge Susan Nelson’s court in Minneapolis MN just ordered parties to the earlier enjoined lawsuits to a case management conference on Aug. 10, 2011. What’s interesting to note is that Judge Nelson anticipates ordering all parties to bring participants who have settlement authority to a mediation hearing before Judge Boylan in Federal Court on Aug. 15, 2011.
.
Since all the active players’ issues are presumably now settled, it would seem that the only remaining issues to be discussed, negotiated and settled are retired players’ claims.
.
We’ve uploaded a copy of both letters to Scribd for easy viewing and to also make them downloadable. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to enlarge it for easier navigation (just hit the ESC key to close):
.
Order Setting Case Management Conference and Mediation
.

Over the weekend, the retired players and the attorneys involved with the Eller et al vs. NFL et al class action lawsuit released a letter addressed to all retirees to outline a call for unity as well as to provide an update on the facts and actions to date.
.
Dear fellow retired players,
.
We have been asked by many of our fellow retired National Football League (“NFL”) players to provide more information about what the Eller v. NFL lawsuit is meant to accomplish and how the lawsuit will help benefit all retired NFL players. What follows is our attempt to do so.
.
On March 28, 2011 the national law firms of Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason LLP and Hausfeld, LLP, filed a class action on behalf of all retired NFL players against the NFL in federal court in the District of Minnesota to bring about wholesale improvements of the NFL player retirement system.
.
This lawsuit came after the CBA negotiations between the NFL and NFLPA broke down, the Union decertified and the League subsequently locked the players out. The complaint seeks to do for retired players what the Reggie White class action lawsuit did for current players in the early 1990’s: create an organization and system whereby retired NFL players are able to advocate on their own behalf and therefore vastly improve the current landscape of the NFL retirement system. This class action – known as Eller et al., v. NFL – was consolidated with the class action on behalf of current players called Brady, et al vs. NFL. (Consolidated simply means that the cases are heard together and the NFL is better positioned to try and resolve both cases simultaneously – although the retired players are asking for and addressing different issues than the current players.)
.
Recently, the largest collective group of representatives of various organizations for retired players or who have mass online audience met in Minneapolis. The group included representatives and/or members from the NFLPA, NFL Alumni, the Retired Players Association, Fourth & Goal, Gridiron Greats, Dignity after Football and DavePear.com/Independent Football Veterans. Most of the participants agreed to present the League with united proposals for changes in key areas affecting the well-being of retired players:

• (a)    pensions;
• (b)   disability benefits;
• (c)    medical benefits;
• (d)   medical monitoring; and
• (e)    vesting calculations.

continue reading »

So this was filed last Friday by the NFLPA:
.
(We’ve uploaded the legal documents to Scribd for easier viewing and to make it downloadable. You can click the link to go over to Scribd’s site where you can enlarge it for easier navigation (hit the ESC key to close). You can also click the DOWNLOAD button to save a PDF copy for printing and reading later)
.
NFLPA Workers Compensation Filing 3-25-11
.
And then Judge Crotty ruled on it Monday, March 28th with a very short and clear order. Just what part of ‘You-can’t-make-your-employees-pay-for-YOUR-Workers-Comp’ does the NFL not understand?

.

continue reading »