BY: DAN WALLACH AND STEPHANIE WEISSENBURGER
Last week consisted of numerous court filings in the La’el Collins case, all of which have been a precursor to this pivotal moment. Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, has ruled in favor of the NFL and denied Collins' request for an injunction against the NFL’s five-game suspension without pay for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy. A copy of the judge’s ruling is available below.
Collins initially filed this lawsuit in Texas state court seeking a temporary restraining order, a temporary injunction, and a permanent injunction to block the NFL from enforcing the remainder of his suspension. The NFL then quickly removed the suit to federal court, opening up the possibility that the case could land in the hands of Judge Amos Mazzant – the same federal judge who overturned the NFL's suspension of Ezekiel Elliott in 2017 (before the case got transferred to NY) citing “fundamental unfairness.” Well, guess what… it did. Judge Mazzant was officially assigned to the La'el Collins federal court lawsuit on Thursday and Collins and his legal team worked quickly to try and get a favorable ruling just like Zeke did.
On Thursday, the Cowboys right tackle filed an emergency motion on for a temporary restraining order with the Texas federal court seeking an immediate hearing before Judge Mazzant "at the earliest possible date" to enjoin the NFL from continuing his suspension.
Just a few hours later, Judge Mazzant scheduled an emergency hearing for Friday at 1 pm CST on the emergency motion for a temporary restraining order and/or temporary injunction against the NFL, Roger Goodell and the NFL Management Council.
Now that U.S. District Judge Amos L. Mazzant III has made his ruling in favor of the NFL, Collins will not see the field until his entire five-game suspension is up... which is really only one more game. With the Cowboys bye next week, Collins will look to take the field again in Week 8.
Follow us on Conduct Detrimental for more updates. You can find us on Twitter: Dan Wallach @WallachLegal and Stephanie Weissenburger @SWeissenburger_.
