I don't want to say I told you so, but I definitely put it out there that something was up in this whole situation. Obviously not the end of this matter but it appears things have turned in favor of the players involved.
Before handing down that order, Magnuson chided league officials for not giving him enough time to review the complex issues in the case. Included are two key questions:
Did league officials, who knew that the supplement contained the diuretic two years before the Williams' drug tests, have a legal obligation to tell the players? And was the arbitrator who upheld the players' suspensions, Jeffrey Pash, biased because people who work for him made the decision not to tell players about the drug?
Magnuson's Thursday ruling leaves little doubt what he thinks.
On Pash, he wrote: "It is plain that the involvement of Mr. Pash's office and [Adolpho] Birch, Mr. Pash's subordinate, in the alleged conduct rendered Mr. Pash a partial arbitrator."
He continued: "Although Mr. Pash's decisions are well-reasoned, he glossed over the rather shocking allegations that the NFLPA makes... Such testimony calls into question the very basis of the NFL's position on banned substances."
Regarding league officials knowing that the supplement StarCaps contained the diuretic bumetanide but did not warn the players, Magnuson said that the players' union "has at least raised a substantial question as to whether the NFL" and its officials had such a duty.
And, he wrote, "The NFLPA has established that a substantial question exists as to whether the [suspensions] violate public policy."
John Klassen, an attorney who does much of his work in federal court, said Magnuson's language about Pash's partiality and the league's obligation to warn players is a clear signal that the tide may have turned against the NFL.
"It is no longer about the players' conduct," Klassen said. "It is about the NFL's conduct, which would be a surprise turn that the NFL didn't expect when they stepped into this."
After all, it was the NFL that moved to shift the Williams' case from state court -- where they had obtained a temporary restraining order two weeks ago -- to federal court.
"It's the old lesson," Klassen said. "Be careful what door you open and what arena you walk into. And the NFL may come to regret that."
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