NFL files brief for expedited appeal

When the NFL goes to court next month in its appeal to overturn the injunction that briefly lifted the league's nearly 2-month-old lockout, it will argue largely the same points that failed to convince District Court Judge Susan Nelson to deliver a favorable ruling in April.

NFL attorneys on Monday filed a brief with the Eighth District Court of Appeals and reiterated their contention that Nelson did not have the jurisdiction to issue an injunction that had the lockout temporarily end late last month. The NFL believes that the Norris-LaGuardia Act prohibits judges from issuing injunctions in labor disputes, and contends that the National Labor Relations Board should first rule on whether the NFL Players Association's decertification was a sham.

The NFL also got a helping hand from another professional sports league, as the NHL on Monday filed an amicus brief with the Court of Appeals in support of the NFL's position that challenges the decertification by the NFL Players Association. And the NBA, which also faces a lockout next season, will be anxiously awaiting the outcome of pro football's labor situation.

The appeals court will hold an expedited hearing on June 3, and is set to hear arguments from the NFL and players suing the league on antitrust grounds. The league's brief, which was due Monday, stressed that the NFLPA's decision to decertify as a union on March 11 should not be considered valid because it was used as a negotiating tactic after talks broke down. The league also argued that "enjoining one side in a labor dispute from using the economic tools available to it under the labor laws would contravene the policy underlying the Norris-LaGuardia Act, the primary jurisdiction of the NLRB, and federal labor law generally, by replacing bilateral negotiation with a unilateral ability to place a judicial injunctive thumb on the collective bargaining scale."

The players' brief is due May 20, and the NFL's response to that brief is due May 26.

The NHL's amicus brief stated that the league "has a direct interest in ensuring that the determination of terms and conditions of employment for NHL players is the product of a bona fide labor process rather than the 'lever' of potential antitrust liability."