Federal judge asked to rule on NFL player's injury case
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Kendall M. Newson caught just two passes in his National Football League career, but now the former Miami Dolphin is the star of a legal battle, fought Downtown last week, in the war between the teams and players.
Lawyers for the Dolphins asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan to put the kibosh on Mr. Newson's workers' compensation case related to a 2005 knee injury, sustained in a preseason game at Heinz Field, that ended his career. They said the claim should be decided by an arbitrator, not by Workers' Compensation Judge Pamela L. Briston.
Lawyers for Mr. Newson and the NFL Players Association countered that there was no legal precedent for a federal judge stopping a state workers' compensation case and added that such a measure would be especially damaging due to the current contract dispute between the league and players.
"There is going to be a lockout of the players on March 3, because there is absolutely no chance of reaching a [contract agreement]," said Adam J. Kaiser, an attorney with New York firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, which represents the union in contract talks and in Mr. Newson's case. The union will decertify, and "arbitrations will be almost impossible to resolve," leaving Mr. Newson in limbo.
Mr. Newson was not at the hearing and could not be reached. A seventh-round draft pick out of Middle Tennessee State in 2002, he never got a big contract and was hurt at age 25.
"He has no money," said attorney Edward J. Abes, who represents Mr. Newson, a Georgia resident, in his workers' compensation case. His efforts to work at a car wash and a nursing home were foiled by his knee, and he spends much of his time on volunteer work taking inner-city kids fishing, Mr. Abes said.
First Published February 14, 2011 12:00 am
