The NFLPA and two of its former player presidents asked a Missouri federal court late last week to dismiss a complaint filed by former players alleging the union and presidents had ignored the threat of head injuries. The NFLPA filed its own motion, and Kevin Mawae and Trace Armstrong filed a joint one. The NFLPA motion described the complaint filed by former players in July as “a contradictory, incoherent complaint resting on the implausible premise that Plaintiffs’ own Union defrauded, neglected, and conspired against its members on issues relating to head trauma and the risks of playing NFL football, despite having no motive to do so.” Legally, the union’s argument cites labor law and the CBA as reasons to dismiss the case. “Plaintiffs must point to the NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement (“NFL CBA”) as the source of such a Union obligation” to ensure player health and safety, the union contends. Instead, the union motion argues, the league is responsible for player health and safety, not the NFLPA. The complaint is simply a “cut and paste job” from the complaint filed against the league, the NFLPA argued. That complaint led to a preliminary settlement. “Apparently in search of a new pocket to sue, Plaintiffs here filed this suit, in which the NFL has vanished as the unilateral perpetrator of the conduct at issue, and the NFLPA substituted in its place.” In their statements with their motion to dismiss, Mawae, who served as player president from ’08-12, and Armstrong, who served from ’96-‘04, say they had no conversation about head trauma in their official capacities with players in Missouri. The case is filed in that state, so they are contending the state’s law should have no sway over them in this case. Jeff Kessler, the NFLPA outside counsel, signed both the motion from the union and the one from Mawae and Armstrong.
