Judge shuts down Patriots fans suing NFL to recover Deflategate draft pick
A group of Patriots fans had their case against the NFL thrown out of court.
By
Will Brinson
•
1 min read
The lawsuit by Patriots fans against the NFL is over before it really began. A group of New England supporters, upset about the league stripping the Pats of a first-round pick following Deflategate, sued the league to recover the pick.
According to the Boston Herald, Judge F. Dennis Saylor summarily shot down the complaint from the plaintiffs before the case could progress beyond the initial stages.
"After reviewing the complaint, it appears highly unlikely that plaintiffs will succeed on the merits of any of their claims," Saylor wrote.
Typically you see a evidentiary hearing in cases to determine if there's enough there to proceed with the case. Saylor didn't even want to hear a response from the NFL.
"The Court is denying plaintiffs' motion without the benefit of an evidentiary hearing or an opposition brief," Saylor wrote. "However, the federal courts are courts of limited resources, funded by the taxpayers, and it would not be a prudent expenditure of those resources to permit the motion to progress to the hearing stage."
That's a polite way of calling this a "frivilous lawsuit not worth spending federal money on."
And you know what? The Hon. Judge Saylor is correct. Did the Patriots get hosed by the NFL by losing a first-round pick? Yeah, probably. Should the NFL give the pick back? Yeah, probably.
Is it worth spending a bunch of time and money in the federal court system to litigate this when Bob Kraft already came out and said he wouldn't fight the team-specific punishment? Nope, not at all.
