NBA owners, players head for court – NBA labour Dispute Update
The NBA owners and players are set to face off in a federal court on Wednesday, November 3rd. The two sides will contest in the preliminary hearing of a complaint that the NBA had filed in August.
The NBA has claimed in the complaint that the current lockout, which began on July 1st after the expiry of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, "does not violate federal antitrust laws. And that if the Players Association's
'decertification' were found to be lawful, all existing player contracts would become void and unenforceable."
NBA’s legal counsels Ron Klempner and Jeffrey Kessler will represent the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and argue that the case should be dismissed. The NBPA claims the case doesn’t have any merit and the owners’
complaint is premature.
The NBA will be represented by in-house attorneys and outside counsel from the venerable Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who will argue that the complaint has merit. The move was seen as a pre-emptive strike by NBA Commissioner
David Stern, who fears that the NBA players could decertify the union and sue the league in federal court. The NBA therefore tried to safeguard against the eventuality because there case is weak.
The NBA has also tried to argue in its complaint that the lockout is lawful and permissible.
The NBPA’s lawyers have already filed an initial contest against the complaint. The NBPA stated earlier that the move was a show of Stern’s bad faith in negotiations, something that has become increasingly evident as the lockout
drags on.
"Such theoretical, unsubstantiated allegations of a future antitrust dispute do not satisfy the NBA's burden to establish a case or controversy of sufficient immediacy and reality to support the Court's subject matter jurisdiction,"
NBPA lawyers wrote.
The NBA argues it set forth "a definite and concrete case of actual controversy (decertification) that this Court may adjudicate without resort to hypothetical facts. … This real and substantial controversy is having an immediate
impact on the League and the collective bargaining process," NBA attorneys wrote.
If a judge does not deem the complaint worthy of hearing, the case could be tossed out on Wednesday, which would be seen as a victory for the players union. On the other hand, if the case is heard it will definitely be an advantage
for the NBA owners as it would buy them some time before the NBPA could file a complaint against them.
The NBPA has one complaint against the NBA pending with the National Labour Relations Board, where the NBA has also filed a case. The NBPA is believed to have gone through some research process for the case and recommendations
have supposedly been sent to Washington.
If the NLRB decides to intervene, they could go to court for an injunction order and force the league to end the lockout immediately.
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