Judges Orders Players Union to Join in NFL Drug-Use Litigation

A federal trial judge presiding over a lawsuit by a group of former professional football players over the National Football League's alleged practice of plying athletes with opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications and surgical anesthetics is demanding that the players' union weigh in on whether the players had complied with the terms of the union's collective bargaining agreement with the league. The NFL had asked U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup to dismiss the suit, Dent et al. v. National Football League, 3:14-cv-02324, in September on the basis that the...