Colin Kaepernick wins first head to head battle against the NFL
In what is the most tangible victory thus far for Colin Kaepernick and his legal team, the arbitrator overseeing his collusion case has denied the NFL’s dismissal attempt.
The decision comes in the wake of a summary judgement hearing in which the NFL argued Kaepernick’s attorneys did not have the evidence to meet an appropriate standard proving a collusive effort to keep the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback out of the league.
A trial date for the collusion case is expected to be set before the end of the 2018 calendar – but not before the issue of additional discovery is decided. If Burbank reopens discovery for Kaepernick’s legal team, that would mean another round of evidence gathering and also likely entail additional depositions of team owners.
The key component of this: The fact that the NFL passed and then froze a rule that would allow teams to discipline players for conduct during the national anthem at games.
With Kaepernick having been the forerunner of kneeling during the anthem to protest for social justice and racial equality, the entire issue strikes at the core of his case. Now that the league has adopted an actual rule that essentially bans what Kaepernick was doing, his legal team could seek to procure anything and everything that went into creating that regulation. That includes notes of private conversations, emails, text messages or simply more depositions of NFL owners who voted in favor of the measure.
In what is the most tangible victory thus far for Colin Kaepernick and his legal team, the arbitrator overseeing his collusion case has denied the NFL’s dismissal attempt.
The decision comes in the wake of a summary judgement hearing in which the NFL argued Kaepernick’s attorneys did not have the evidence to meet an appropriate standard proving a collusive effort to keep the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback out of the league.
A trial date for the collusion case is expected to be set before the end of the 2018 calendar – but not before the issue of additional discovery is decided. If Burbank reopens discovery for Kaepernick’s legal team, that would mean another round of evidence gathering and also likely entail additional depositions of team owners.
The key component of this: The fact that the NFL passed and then froze a rule that would allow teams to discipline players for conduct during the national anthem at games.
With Kaepernick having been the forerunner of kneeling during the anthem to protest for social justice and racial equality, the entire issue strikes at the core of his case. Now that the league has adopted an actual rule that essentially bans what Kaepernick was doing, his legal team could seek to procure anything and everything that went into creating that regulation. That includes notes of private conversations, emails, text messages or simply more depositions of NFL owners who voted in favor of the measure.
Comments
Post a Comment