Former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe will absolutely, positively sue the Vikings this week.
Unless he doesn’t.
According to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, lawyer Clayton Halunen says that the lawsuit he previously promised to file on Wednesday has been placed on hold. Instead, Halunen will take “the next couple of weeks” to see whether the case can be resolved via negotiations with the team.
“We have spoken with the Vikings lawyer Joe Anthony and we have agreed to recommend to our clients that they continue with their conversations,” Halunen said Wednesday, via Tomassaon. “We will not be taking any action pending the completion of those discussions.”
It’s a smart move, by both sides. The early 1980s Wapnerization of America flooded courts with civil complaints, forcing judges to come up with mandatory mediation programs, which compel litigants to try to work out their differences under the auspices of a neutral third party. Eventually, the Vikings and Kluwe will have to do just that. With the facts of Kluwe’s case not very complicated, why not just do it now?
“We have not set a deadline so I can’t say there’s a deadline but I think both sides are interested in trying to determine whether or not our conversations are going to be a productive in a very short period,” Halunen said.
The real deadline comes on the two-year anniversary of May 2013 Kluwe’s release by the Vikings. He’ll either sue or settle long before it’s four minutes to Wapner.