Williams Wall still may possibly get suspended per PFT

[madlithuanian]

NFL Still Plans To Try To Suspend The Williams Wall

Posted by Mike Florio on June 2, 2009, 1:24 p.m.

There’s an erroneous Associated Press report regarding Tuesday’s hearing in the case brought by Vikings defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams due to the StarCaps suspensions.

 

The AP report initially said that the league’s lawyer told Hennepin County Judge Gary Larson that the NFL “won’t try to enforce its four-game suspension” of the two players.

 

Not true, we’re told.

 

The league instead told the Court that Kevin and Pat Williams will not be suspended until the first game of the regular season, and that in the interim they are free to participate in all activities — offseason workouts, training camp, and preseason games. (That’s standard practice in matters of this nature.)

 

The NFL also has taken the position that no preliminary injunction from the state court is needed, since the federal court has lifted its ban on the imposition of a suspension pending the outcome of the litigation.

 

On this point, we disagree with the league. It’s one thing for the federal court to lift its injunction now that the federal claims have failed before Judge Paul Magnuson. It’s quite another for the state court to determine whether the claims arising under Minnesota law are sufficiently viable to prevent the league from suspending the players until the remaining portion of their claims has been resolved by a Minnesota court.

 

We tend to think that, for the same reason the federal court blocked the suspensions pending the May 22 dismissal of most of the case, the state court should do the same thing — prevent the implementation of the suspensions until a final ruling is issued by the Minnesota court.