Judge Pushes Back Trial Date In NFLPA Lawsuit To October
By Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
The judge overseeing the licensing lawsuit against the NFLPA pushed back the trial date to October 20 from September 22 because of the death last week of Exec Dir Gene Upshaw. A group of retired players is suing the NFLPA for alleged failure to pay licensing fees, a case that could result in a more than $100M judgment. Judge William Alsup agreed to an NFLPA request to push back the trial date, but said he could not go further than October 20 because of the court's busy schedule. In fact, he wrote in his order Thursday that he could not guarantee the case would actually go to trial on October 20. The NFLPA also filed a motion objecting to Bernard Parrish's effort to remove himself from the court's jurisdiction and refile his complaint with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. A former Browns player, Parrish had been one of the case's initial plaintiffs, but in April Alsup rejected his claim because of what he called a personal vendetta against the NFLPA and Upshaw. Parrish now wants to appeal his individual case, but the NFLPA says Alsup's court, the Federal District court for northern California, should retain jurisdiction.
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