As expected, the NFLPA has filed suit in federal court in Minneapolis to block the suspensions of the five players who were banned for four-games apiece for using StarCaps. This suit is not the same one as Kevin and Pat Williams filed in Hennepin County District Court on Wednesday. The Vikings defensive tackles won a temporary restraining order to return to work and are expected to be at practice today. (We’ll have reaction throughout the day.) However, the NFL could request the Williamses case be moved to Federal Court. If that happens, one would think the Williamses suit would be combined with the NFLPA action. Of course, I’m not a lawyer but I do play one on this blog.

Here is the Associated Press story:

“The NFL Players Association is suing to block five of the six player suspenions for violating the league’s anti-doping policy. The suit field in federal court is on behalf of Kevin and Pat Williams of the Vikings and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints. The five players were suspended for testing positive for a banned diuretic that can be used as a masking agent for steroids. The diuretic was in a supplement that did not list the diuretic as an ingredient.

“The suit says both the NFL-appointed doctor and the NFL lawyer who administers the league’s steroids policy knew the supplement contained the banned drug but never advised the players. It alleges they breached their duty to the players and endangered their physical well-being. It did not include Houston Texans long snapper Bryan Pittman.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.