Nebraska Players File Lawsuit Against B1G
- Thread starter RobHowe
- Start date
#1DieHardHawk
Well-Known Member
A more applicable response would be:
"The Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) overwhelmingly voted to postpone the fall sports season based on fear that we would get our asses sued should a student athlete get ill, and the family attorney conclude that our reckless decision to proceed constituted gross negligence, resulting in future loss of earnings...
"...and we defend the decision to protect ourselves from potentially frivolous legal action in an overly reactive knee-jerk litigious society."
"The Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C) overwhelmingly voted to postpone the fall sports season based on fear that we would get our asses sued should a student athlete get ill, and the family attorney conclude that our reckless decision to proceed constituted gross negligence, resulting in future loss of earnings...
"...and we defend the decision to protect ourselves from potentially frivolous legal action in an overly reactive knee-jerk litigious society."
Fryowa
Administrator
Fail.
AreWeThereYet
Well-Known Member
It's not an either/or situation. Colleges will be sued no mater what decision they make, just like they are being sued to reimburse tuition for switching to "inferior" online classes.
Congressional action on these lawsuits stalled a couple weeks ago, around the same time negotiations over unemployment benefits stalled. Rather predictably, Republicans in congress want to protect against lawsuits. Democrats in congress don't want to interfere with legal action. The Trump administrations stand, as of early summer, started out in line with the Republicans in congress, but has pretty much switched to screw all the universities they don't support us.
Don't expect any movement on this until after the election.
Fryowa
Administrator
Totally moot point anyway. The fact that people are even discussing ramifications of this lawsuit is laughable.
This suit is intended only as a statement and any lawyer taking it on would be telling those players and parents so.
Let's say they decide to proceed and a judge allows it to proceed. Those parents don't even have a hundredth of a percent of the resources of the B1G, and the conference could make this thing sit in court for five or six years if they wanted to. The B1G could bankrupt the parents in legal fees and their sons would be long graduated before anything even got close to settling.
Class action? Yeah right...
Good luck organizing a class action before next year, and by then those players will be playing football already. What harm are they going to prove that the B1G caused? Their scholarships are still being paid. Their eligibility is being extended. Future NFL wages? LOL. Good luck with that one.
The parents' lawyers are laughing all the way to their mutual funds...if you read the complaint (it's on CBS's website), you'll see on page 13 that the student's have waived monetary demands and are suing strictly to restart the season. How can any fucking lawyer look a client in the eye and tell them he thinks they can settle a lawsuit with a multi billion dollar football conference in a couple weeks (which is when the season would need to start)?
Oh yeah...they're lawyers...I forgot...
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
I agree that this lawsuit is a publicity stunt, and as a lawyer, I am not a fan.
The notion that any judge would order the start of the season in the next couple weeks is silly. And even if s/he did, such dramatic decision would be stayed while it was appealed. There is zero chance that the season will proceed under a judicial order.
At best, and this is even a stretch, the lawsuit may provide a vehicle for further discussions. And, maybe the presidents start to have second thoughts under mounting political and legal pressure to compromise and start the season in say October or something.
This lawsuit won't be the cause of any of that, but it could be a small factor I suppose....
The notion that any judge would order the start of the season in the next couple weeks is silly. And even if s/he did, such dramatic decision would be stayed while it was appealed. There is zero chance that the season will proceed under a judicial order.
At best, and this is even a stretch, the lawsuit may provide a vehicle for further discussions. And, maybe the presidents start to have second thoughts under mounting political and legal pressure to compromise and start the season in say October or something.
This lawsuit won't be the cause of any of that, but it could be a small factor I suppose....
Fryowa
Administrator
As a lawyer, would you put the following on your firm's website and expect to be taken seriously? These are the guys the parents hired.
http://jewellcollins.com/game/
These guys the parents hired look like bumpkins doing wills, LLCs, and the paperwork when mom wants to sell the farm to the kids after dad passes.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
I don't know about the law in Nebraska, but where I practice bringing this case would be borderline sanctionable. I do not believe that a reasonable attorney of minimum competence could actually believe that a Nebraska state court could issue an injunction forcing a voluntary association to force its members (who are not party to the suit) to play football. The tortious interference claim is garbage. There is simply no tort. The 3rd party beneficiary claim is bogus, and even assuming arguendo that these guys are express third party beneficiaries of the governing docs (which I would find hard to believe), a contract claim would be subject to the venue set forth in the governing docs, not shitsville, Nebraska. The nature of the Big Ten membership is that it is primarily comprised of public universities. The governance of these universities is largely a political matter, so at the end of the day, shutting down the season is in all likelihood a non-justiciable political matter. As said above, there is no way in hell a Nebraska court can force Governor Whitman or Pritzker to accommodate a football season.
This thing seems to have been brought strictly for publicity and discovery and should likely be dismissed for failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted.
Fryowa
Administrator
That law firm's website has a whack-a-mole video game on it. And no I'm not joking.
http://jewellcollins.com/game/
Ree4
Well-Known Member
Whack-a-witness? Hahaha wtf
kicker22
Well-Known Member
The fact that Nebraska filed this and hired attorney's from Nebraska is concerning to me. Last I recall Nebby hasn't been winning on or off the field lately, so why would I see this breaking the slump. Has anyone seen word for word what was filed? How do we not know that in the verbiage they aren't requesting to be deemed relevant because they won a few championships in the 90s? I can't wait to see their future cross over games.
Fryowa
Administrator
Nebraska didn't file suit. A bunch of parents and players did.
This is the complaint.
Page 13 of the complaint shows they're waving monetary damages and suing the Big Ten to restart football.
kicker22
Well-Known Member
Thanks Fry. Was a bit on the busy side Friday and didn't have a chance to dig it up, although I did figure there was no monetary damages being saught and that it focused on reversing the decision to postpone the season.
NorthKCHawk
Well-Known Member
If you have to go to Norfolk to find your lawyers, you probably aint getting the cream of the barrister crop. Seriously, that website was a joke. There are a number of very serious, good litigation firms in Lincoln and Omaha that have many passionate Husker fans as attorneys. Its telling that a trusts and estates firm from Western Nebraska was "chosen."
Should be dismissed with a warning that fees were considered.....
