White v. National Football League, s. 93-3375

Page 402

41 F.3d 402

147 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3075, 1994-2 Trade Cases P

70,811,

31 Fed.R.Serv.3d 293

Reggie WHITE; Michael Buck; Hardy Nickerson; Vann

McElroy; Dave Duerson, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Byron Evans, Objector-Appellant, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE; The Five Smiths, Inc.; Buffalo

Bills, Inc.; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinnati

Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; The Dallas Cowboys

Football Club, Ltd.; PDB Sports, Ltd.; The Detroit Lions,

Inc.; The Green Bay Packers, Inc.; Houston Oilers, Inc.;

Indianapolis Colts, Inc.; Kansas City Chiefs Football Club,

Inc.; The Los Angeles Raiders, Ltd.; Los Angeles Rams

Football Company, Inc.; Miami Dolphins, Ltd.; Minnesota

Vikings Football Club, Inc.; KMS Patriots, L.P.; The New

Orleans Saints Limited Partnership; New York Football

Giants, Inc.; New York Jets Football Club, Inc., Defendants-Appellees,

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, Inc., Defendant,

B & B Holdings, Inc.; Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc.;

The Chargers Football; The San Francisco Forty-Niners,

Ltd.; Seattle Seahawks, Inc.; Tampa Bay Area NFL Football

Club, Inc.; Pro-Football, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Reggie White; Michael Buck; Hardy Nickerson; Vann

McElroy; Dave Duerson, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

Sean JONES; Ken Norton, Jr.; Eric Allen; Patrick Hunter;

William C. Matthews; Leslie O'Neal; Eric Sanders; Chris

Dishman; Lomas Brown; Neil Smith; Van Waiters; Broderick

Thompson; Curtis Duncan; Jerry Ball, Intervenors-Appellants, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE; The Five Smiths, Inc.; Buffalo

Bills, Inc.; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinnati

Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; The Dallas Cowboys

Football Club, Ltd.; PDB Sports, Ltd.; The Detroit Lions,

Inc.; The Green Bay Packers, Inc.; Houston Oilers, Inc.;

Indianapolis Colts, Inc.; Kansas City Chiefs Football Club,

Inc.; The Los Angeles Raiders, Ltd.; Los Angeles Rams

Football Company, Inc.; Miami Dolphins, Ltd.; Minnesota

Vikings Football Club, Inc.; KMS Patriots, L.P.; The New

Orleans Saints Limited Partnership; New York Football

Giants, Inc.; New York Jets Football Club, Inc., Defendants-Appellees,

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, Inc., Defendant,

B & B Holdings, Inc.; Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc.;

The Chargers Football; The San Francisco Forty-Niners,

Ltd.; Seattle Seahawks, Inc.; Tampa Bay Area NFL Football

Club, Inc.; Pro-Football, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Reggie White; Michael Buck; Hardy Nickerson; Vann

McElroy; Dave Duerson, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

Terry Orr, Intervenor-Appellant,

Shane Collins; Ron Middleton, Intervenors,

Mark Schlereth, Intervenor-Appellant,

Kelly Goodburn; David Gulledge; Ed Simmons, Intervenors,

Matt Elliot; Joe Jacoby, Intervenors-Appellants,

Sidney Johnson; Kurt Gouveia; Ravin Caldwell, Intervenors,

Mark Rypien, Intervenor-Appellant,

James A. Jenkins; Johnny Thomas; Eric Williams; Don

Warren; Jeff Bostic; Todd Bowles, Intervenors,

Ray Brown, Intervenor-Appellant,

Jason Buck, Intervenor,

Earnest A. Byner, Intervenor-Appellant, Desmond Howard; Anthony Johnson; Brian Mitchell, Intervenors, Ricky Sanders, Intervenor-Appellant, Paul SIEVER, Intervenor, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE; The Five Smiths, Inc.; Buffalo

Bills, Inc.; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinnati

Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; The Dallas Cowboys

Football Club, Ltd.; PDB Sports, Ltd.; The Detroit Lions,

Inc.; The Green Bay Packers, Inc.; Houston Oilers, Inc.;

Indianapolis Colts, Inc.; Kansas City Chiefs Football Club,

Inc.; The Los Angeles Raiders, Ltd.; Los Angeles Rams

Football Company, Inc.; Miami Dolphins, Ltd.; Minnesota

Vikings Football Club, Inc.; KMS Patriots, L.P.; The New

Orleans Saints Limited Partnership; New York Football

Giants, Inc.; New York Jets Football Club, Inc., Defendants-Appellees,

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, Inc., Defendant,

B & B Holdings, Inc.; Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc.;

The Chargers Football; The San Francisco Forty-Niners,

Ltd.; Seattle Seahawks, Inc.; Tampa Bay Area NFL Football

Club, Inc.; Pro-Football, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Reggie White; Michael Buck; Hardy Nickerson; Vann

McElroy; Dave Duerson, Plaintiffs-Appellees,

Mark DUSBABEK; Carl Lee; Audray McMillian; Felix Wright;

Cody Risien; Mark Harper; Sammy Martin; Don

Beebe; Gregory Scales, Objectors-Appellants, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE; The Five Smiths, Inc.; Buffalo

Bills, Inc.; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinnati

Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; The Dallas Cowboys

Football Club, Ltd.; PDB Sports, Ltd.; The Detroit Lions,

Inc.; The Green Bay Packers, Inc.; Houston Oilers, Inc.;

Indianapolis Colts, Inc.; Kansas City Chiefs Football Club,

Inc.; The Los Angeles Raiders, Ltd.; Los Angeles Rams

Football Company, Inc.; Miami Dolphins, Ltd.; Minnesota

Vikings Football Club, Inc.; KMS Patriots, L.P.; The New

Orleans Saints Limited Partnership; New York Football

Giants, Inc.; New York Jets Football Club, Inc., Defendants-Appellees,

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, Inc., Defendant,

B & B Holdings, Inc.; Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc.;

The Chargers Football; The San Francisco Forty-Niners,

Ltd.; Seattle Seahawks, Inc.; Tampa Bay Area NFL Football

Club, Inc.; Pro-Football, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Reggie WHITE; Michael Buck; Hardy Nickerson; Vann

McElroy; Dave Duerson, Plaintiffs-Appellees, Maurice Hurst; John Fourcade, Objectors-Appellants, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE; The Five Smiths, Inc.; Buffalo

Bills, Inc.; Chicago Bears Football Club, Inc.; Cincinnati

Bengals, Inc.; Cleveland Browns, Inc.; The Dallas Cowboys

Football Club, Ltd.; PDB Sports, Ltd.; The Detroit Lions,

Inc.; The Green Bay Packers, Inc.; Houston Oilers, Inc.;

Indianapolis Colts, Inc.; Kansas City Chiefs Football Club,

Inc.; The Los Angeles Raiders, Ltd.; Los Angeles Rams

Football Company, Inc.; Miami Dolphins, Ltd.; Minnesota

Vikings Football Club, Inc.; KMS Patriots, L.P.; The New

Orleans Saints Limited Partnership; New York Football

Giants, Inc.; New York Jets Football Club, Inc., Defendants-Appellees,

The Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, Inc., Defendant,

B & B Holdings, Inc.; Pittsburgh Steelers Sports, Inc.;

The Chargers Football; The San Francisco Forty-Niners,

Ltd.; Seattle Seahawks, Inc.; Tampa Bay Area NFL Football

Club, Inc.; Pro-Football, Inc., Defendants-Appellees.

Nos. 93-3375, 93-3381, 93-3382, 93-3403, 93-3415.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted Oct. 12, 1994.

Decided Dec. 6, 1994.

Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing

En Banc Denied Jan. 20, 1995. ^*

Suzzelle Smith, Los Angeles, CA, argued (Burton J. Kinerk, Kenneth Lee and Colleen L. Kinerk, Tucson, AZ; W. Joseph Bruckner, Earle F. Kyle, IV, Thomas S. Fraser and Laurie J. Miller, Minneapolis, MN; Don Howarth, Los Angeles, CA; Gary C. Adler and John J. McDermott, Washington, DC, on briefs), for appellant.

Jeffrey L. Kessler, New York City, argued (James Fitzmaurice, Daniel J. Connolly, Edward M. Glennon, Charles J. Lloyd and Mark A. Jacobson, Minneapolis, MN; Herbert Dym, Gregg H. Levy and Neil K. Roman, Washington, DC; Frank Rothman, Shepard Goldfein and William L. Daly, Los Angeles, CA; James W. Quinn, Jonathan T. Weiss, David G. Feher, Daniel Rubin and Jay L. Levine, New York City, on brief), for appellee.

Before McMILLIAN, HANSEN, and MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

Twenty-six football players ("objectors") appeal the settlement of an antitrust action brought by a certified class of football players against the National Football League. The district court ¹ initially certified the class in an order issued on April 30, 1993, White v. NFL, 822 F.Supp. 1389 (D.Minn.1993), and approved the settlement in an order and a judgment decree issued on August 20, 1993, White v. NFL, 836 F.Supp. 1458 (D.Minn.1993); White v. NFL, 836 F.Supp. 1508 (D.Minn.1993). The objectors now challenge the district court's certification of a mandatory class represented by the named plaintiffs, the district court's approval of the settlement agreement, and the district court's jurisdiction to enjoin related actions. We affirm.

I.

The settlement agreement purports to end a six-year dispute between the NFL member teams and their player-employees. The central issue in this labor dispute was the conflict between the players' desire for complete free agency and the NFL's desire to maintain competitive balance among its teams. A 1987 player strike failed to produce a compromise, and various antitrust actions followed. See, e.g., Powell v. NFL, 711 F.Supp. 959 (D.Minn.1989), 930 F.2d 1293 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1040, 111 S.Ct. 711, 112 L.Ed.2d 700 (1991) (holding that nonstatutory labor exemption precluded antitrust challenge); Powell/McNeil v. NFL, 764 F.Supp. 1351 (D.Minn.1991) (recognizing National Football League Players Association's disclaimer of its status as exclusive collective bargaining representative, thus ending the nonstatutory labor exemption); and McNeil v. NFL, 1992 WL 315292 (D.Minn.1992) (special verdict finding that employment rules harmed competition for players' services and were more restrictive than necessary to achieve competitive balance among teams). Shortly after the special verdict in McNeil, id., a group of players filed White v. NFL, the class action which resulted in the challenged settlement.

In early 1993, the parties to White v. NFL agreed to settle that case as well as other litigation related to the ongoing employment dispute. The District Court assisted in the settlement process by conditionally certifying a non-opt-out class pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(1). White v. NFL, Civ. No. 4-92-906 (D.Minn.1993); White v. NFL, Civ. No. 4-92-906 (D.Minn.1993). The class consisted of

(i) all players who have been, are now, or will be under contract to play professional football for an NFL club at any time from August 31, 1987, to the date of final approval of the settlement of this action and the determination of any appeal therefrom, and (ii) all college and...