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NEW YORK -- The odds are against Alex Rodriguez in federal court as he tries to overturn his season-long drug suspension. wholesale jerseys . For the past five decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has set narrow grounds for judges to consider when evaluating lawsuits to overturn arbitration decisions. That position was reaffirmed in 2001 when it ruled against Steve Garvey in his suit against the Major League Baseball Players Association stemming from the collusion cases of the 1980s. "I dont think he has very much of a chance," said Stanford Law School professor emeritus William B. Gould IV, the former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. "There are many cases that are appealed from arbitration awards, but the case law at the Supreme Court level makes success very much a long shot." The Joint Drug Agreement between Major League Baseball and the players association gives the sports three-person arbitration panel -- the independent arbitrator plus one representative of management and the union -- jurisdiction to review discipline resulting from violations. The union filed a grievance after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig suspended Rodriguez for 211 games last August, and arbitrator Fredric Horowitz presided over 12 days of hearings last fall and cut the penalty Saturday to 162 games plus the 2014 post-season. Rodriguez is expected to sue under section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, also known as Taft-Hartley, which allows actions for violations of collective bargaining agreements. "There are very specific and narrow grounds for overturning an arbitration award," said Jeffrey Kessler, a partner at Winston & Strawn who has represented players and unions in many sports. "Either there has to be a showing of partiality by the arbitrator, or there has to be a showing that there as a manifest disregard of some settled legal principle, or there has to be a fundamental denial of whats called arbitral due process -- the procedures were completely defective -- or it could be in a collective bargaining context a decision thats contrary to what we call the essence of the CBA. So basically there are four targets and they have to hit one of them, and theyre not easy." Garvey had sought about $3 million from the $280 million settlement in the collusion cases. While the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Garvey and overturned the decision by arbitrator Thomas Roberts, the Supreme Court reversed. "Established law ordinarily precludes a court from resolving the merits of the parties dispute on the basis of its own factual determinations, no matter how erroneous the arbitrators decision," the court wrote in an 8-1 decision. Rodriguezs lawyers are expected to request a preliminary injunction and attempt to depose Selig -- Horowitz refused to compel Selig to testify at the arbitration, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing. MLB may attempt to quash a subpoena and force a judge to rule. "Theres a good arbitrator there, and Im sure he was very careful to pay attention to the record," said George Nicolau, baseballs arbitrator from 1986-95. "No court is ready to overturn that, I think, based on longstanding decisions." The Supreme Court ruled in 1960 that "the refusal of courts to review the merits of an arbitration award is the proper approach to arbitration under collective bargaining agreements. The federal policy of settling labour disputes by arbitration would be undermined if courts had the final say on the merits of the awards." In that case, United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel and Car Corp., Justice Stephen O. Douglas wrote "an arbitrator is confined to interpretation and application of the collective bargaining agreement; he does not sit to dispense his own brand of industrial justice." That case was cited by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1976 when it refused a request by MLB to vacate the decision by arbitrator Peter Seitz overturning baseballs reserve clause in the Andy Messersmith-Dave McNally case. jerseys from china . The Olympic hockey rookies will face top-seeded and 2006 Olympic champion Sweden on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. Kopitar, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, is the only NHL player on the Slovenia squad. His father, Matjaz, is the national teams coach. wholesale nfl jerseys. The 27-year-old Niskanen, the more offensive-minded of the pair of defencemen joining the Capitals, got a $40.25 million, seven-year contract. "Its a very big commitment from Washington. Thats no small thing. Youre talking a seven-year commitment for a very substantial amount of money," said Niskanen, who got married Saturday.MONTREAL -- Canadas newly-minted Olympic swim team got a taste of London on Monday. The 31 swimmers introduced to the public went for a short ride around downtown Montreal in a red double-decker bus, which is traditional in Londons public transportation system. "I was hungry and went and got a muffin, so I was the last person on the bus," lamented Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont. "I was on the bottom, but people were so excited. "One of the young kids from my group, Alec Page, he just looked at me with these huge eyes and asked is this what its like? I said yup, welcome to the Olympic team. "From here to the Olympics is the best four months for an athlete because you feel like a rock star." The team was finalized the previous evening at Olympic Park Pool. The Canadian Olympic Committee organized Mondays spectacle to officially welcome the swimmers onto the 2012 Olympic team. They were greeted by blue-clad employees of RBC Royal Bank, an Olympic team sponsor, upoon disembarking the bus. cheap jerseys from china. COC president Marcel Aubut, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay and team assistant chef de mission Sylvie Bernier praised and encouraged their efforts. Swimmers about to compete in their first Games were still getting used to the idea. "For the people that have just made the team, I think it will set in in about a week from now," said Victorias Ryan Cochrane, who won a bronze medal in freestyle at the 2008 Summer Games. "Its a bit of a settling down period. Cochrane is a again a medal threat in long-distance freestyle. Swimming Canadas stated goal is three medals and getting athletes in 13 to 15 finals. The team has a training camp scheduled for later this month in Phoenix. Theres a lot of work to do before that, said veteran Brent Hayden of Victoria. "Everybody is going to go back home to their programs and figure out where theyre going to find more speed and theyre going to get a real good block of training," he said. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
