On the day after the 2012 regular season ended, Judge David Doty rejected an effort by the NFLPA to pursue a collusion case based on the notion that the NFL had a secret salary cap in the uncapped year of 2010.
On the busiest Friday to date of the offseason, Doty has denied a separate effort by the NFLPA to pursue those collusion charges.
Without delving too far into the always-fascinating legal technicalities, the NFLPA attempted on two fronts to reopen the 2011 settlement agreement that otherwise waived any collusion claims for events occurring in 2010. The December 31 ruling defeated one of those efforts. As to the other effort, the parties failed to file paperwork in compliance with the court order setting forth the deadline for submitting the paperwork.
Judge Doty has now blocked the second effort, based not on the fact that the parties failed to submit paperwork but on the merits of the argument.
While the NFLPA understandably will be upset and likely will appeal the decision, Judge Doty once again has avoided issuing a ruling with language that would embarrass or chastise the players. And he once again has slipped the ruling through the media’s five-hole at a time when there are plenty of other more pertinent NFL stories.