Random Ramsdom, 7/5: Law school for dummies

So much for a link dump (that's the editorial term for these little time wasters we web editors drop on you daily). With the NFL lockout dominating football news right now, Random Ramsdom has become kind of a legal brief, a legal education worthy of the Rolling Stone classifieds. Here's your latest legal links and more!

NFL lockout: Critical stage of talks to resume on Tuesday
On Tuesday, the NFL's owners and players are scheduled to resume negotiations in New York as the sides try to come to an agreement to end the longest work stoppage in league history. Remember last week when talks almost fell apart one of the issues was the legacy fund for retired players. Apparently, De Smith called for that to be funded by players and owners on a 50-50 basis and it not count against the cap. However, sparks flew when union lawyers, Kessler and Quinn no doubt, balked, arguing that owners should pay for it and it not count against the cap. With Smith the one to have originally pitched the 50-50 idea, it will be interesting to see if it gets back to that. It should be a 50-50 split. There had been some talk of owners wanting players to pay for it all, but that isn't mentioned in this report.

Letter to De Smith: Send your lawyers packing
Mike Freeman from CBS Sports pens an open letter to De Smith, pleading with the players' rep to punt their lawyers, at least Jeffrey Kessler and Jim Quinn who have been trying to sabotage the talks in the hopes of blowing them up and pursuing a full-blown court case. The goal of said court case would be to win a massive settlement, translating that into partial ownership of the league. Freeman notes that he is also hearing those two present the biggest problem in talks now, picking fights over the fine print. With talks set to resume this week, De Smith will be tested by how well he can control his own counsel.

Retired players ask court to involve them more in labor talks
Uh oh. While NFL owners and players appear to be inching toward a resolution of the league's lengthy lockout, a group of retired players is clamoring to be more involved in the discussions. The group filed a class-action complaint against the owners and current players in federal court Monday. Retired NFL players/plaintiffs led by Carl Eller are asking for an injunction to halt mediation, on the grounds that current players and owners negotiating a fix for retirees is unfair. It's not. Current players are negotiating a deal for when their retired players, ergo self-interest also benefits previous retirees. If they don't get an injunction, the current retired players are seeking a damages settlement. Keep an eye on this to see if it throws a kink into talks.

Online Gooner
Some Arsenal (Rams' owner Stan Kroenke's English Premier League soccer team) fans are concerned about the NFL lockout's effect on spending for their rosters.

FB Leonard Hopes To Return To Bengals
Brian Leonard was the Rams second-round pick in 2007. Those days are over now. 

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