MLB lawyers seek speedy dismissal of Alex Rodriguez's lawsuit

Lawyers for Major League Baseball are seeking a speedy dismissal of an Alex Rodriguez lawsuit accusing the league and commissioner Bud Selig of trying to drive him out of baseball, according to a letter sent to a judge yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides can make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier.

Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. He said lawyers for Rodriguez would ask that the case be remanded to state court in Manhattan, where Rodriguez had filed it early this month before the league removed it to federal court. Siev said the requests by the league and Rodriguez both concern whether the lawsuit's claims fall outside or are pre-empted by the Taft-Hartley Act, known formally as the Labor Management Relations Act. -- AP