Clayton Halunen, a lawyer for former NFLer Chris Kluwe, on Friday said that a settlement "has been reached" between his client and the Vikings, "avoiding a lawsuit that had been threatened" against the team, according to Chris Tomasson of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. Kluwe "called it a relief he won't have to take the team to court" over his May '13 release. Kluwe: "That's something I don't think either side wanted. Hopefully, this will be closure and everyone can move on to do bigger and better things." Kluwe "accused the Vikings in January of releasing him last year because of his outspoken views on same-sex marriage and accused special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer of making homophobic remarks" during in '12. Priefer has "been suspended for the first three games of the regular season for what the Vikings said was one inappropriate comment." Halunen early this month said that a possible lawsuit, seeking damages in excess of $10M, would "be put on hold to engage in further settlement talks with the Vikings" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/16). In Minneapolis, David Chanen noted the settlement came "after two days of mediation." Details of the settlement are unknown, but Kluwe has stated the Vikings "should have released the entire 150-page report about the investigation and that the much shorter summary didn’t contain substantial evidence" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/16).
