Joseph M. Hanna, chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Sports and Entertainment Practice Group, commented on “The Biggest Sports Rulings of the First Half of 2017” for a Law360 article of the same name.

Specifically, Joe weighed in on Evans et al. v. Arizona Cardinals Football Club LLC et al., in which a group of former NFL players alleged doctors and coaching staff among the league’s 32 teams encouraged players to abuse painkillers, including opiates, and handed out painkillers without proper warnings, in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. U.S. District Judge William Alsup dismissed most of the claims, finding them broad and unspecific, suggestive of an “advocacy-based agenda.” The Evans litigation overlaps with a case the same attorneys commenced earlier, Dent v. NFL — and, as came out in Alsup’s ruling, both coincide with a grievance over the same issue the players filed within the league.

“As alluded to in Dent, these dismissals demonstrate simply that the court system may not be the appropriate venue for these claims to be heard,” Joe said. “The NFL Players Association has filed a grievance dealing with these same painkiller issues, which likely will be where more of the substantive issues are finally handled.”