Dear Roger Goodell:

You have a thug in your midst. Whatcha gonna do?

In a week where sports enthusiasts were focused more on the impending baseball season and The Masters at Augusta, your NFL football league managed to get on the front pages.

But not in a good way.

Commissioner Goodell, you've had your hands full dealing with reckless play, including head butting.

Concussion-caused dementia claims are a workers' compensation tidal wave that may hit your league.

But to think that it was the policy of at least one New Orleans Saints coach to encourage players to injure other players?

Whatcha gonna do, Roger? Yes, I know that you already placed Gregg Williams on indefinite suspension.

But the real test will be whether you are going to announce a suspension that will last for years. Or forever.

Players were being targeted for injury. Bounties were given.

For those folks who missed the news this week, here are quotes (noted by Vittorio Tafur in the San Francisco Chronicle) taken from an audio recording done by documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon of New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, speaking to the Saints team about an impending game with the San Francisco 49ers:
re 49ers receiver Kyle Williams:
"We need to find out in the first two series of the game, that little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion. We need to ... put a lick on him right now. He needs to decide. He needs to ... decide."
re 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree:
"We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna, or he wants to be a tough guy. We need to find out. He becomes human when we ... take out that outside ACL."
re 49ers running back Frank Gore:
"We've got to do everything we can in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore's head. We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways".

My law partner Michael Gerson at Boxer & Gerson represents many NFL players in their workers' comp cases.

But workers' comp may not be the sole remedy some of these players will have if they can show evidence which has now been revealed about the Saints' coaching program.

Civil tort liability may be an appropriate remedy in some circumstances. Civil tort liability against coaches, players, and owners who have knowledge of and acted upon a program of intentional injuries.

Even in a violent spectacle such as football, there is a line which has been crossed.

Listen to this disgusting audio and decide for yourself: should Williams be banned for life?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnn9kbqQUA

Julius Young
www.workerscompzone.com
www.boxerlaw.com

Amid all the images of oil soaked marshes and gushing oil pipes in the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, it's easy to forget that this catastrophe killed
11 workers and injured at least 17 others.

Many of those were lost at sea.

America's tort system is villified by many people. Tort lawyers are seen as sharks and ambulance chasers.

There has been a concerted attempt to get "tort reform" to limit the rights of individuals to seek redress for wrongdoing.

But when cars crash because gas pedals stick or electronics go awry, or when corporations cut safety corners causing unbelievable human and economic damage, the public gets a quick lesson in why tort lawyers are necessary.

John Anton, my law partner at Oakland's Boxer and Gerson, is a tort trial lawyer who handled several of the cases arising out of a massive jet fuel pipeline explosion in Walnut Creek several years ago. The pipeline was ruptured due to negligence in a construction project.

Handling cases of that type takes both legal finesse and the ability to understand technical details. Oftentimes there are armies of defense lawyers representing the multiple defendants. As you might imagine, they will try to bury you with paper.

My hat is off to the lawyers who take on BP, Halliburton, and the other companies involved in the rig explosion. The facts they uncover in their civil lawsuits will be important as the government moves forward with hearings and possible criminal penalties.

Stay tuned.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com

Boxer & Gerson partner Jean Hyams has won a $1.3 million race discrimination verdict against BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit District).

The case was featured in an article in today's San Francisco Chronicle. To read about the Chronicle piece on the case, click here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... =printable

Racial discrimination still exists in the workplace. Boxer & Gerson salutes Jean Hyams for her great trial work on behalf of California employees.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com
*

Boxer & Gerson LLP lawyers recently settled an employment discrimination lawsuit against the City Of Emeryville for $3.6 million.

Boxer & Gerson LLP partner Leslie Levy and associate Darci Burrell represented the plaintiff in the case, which is one of the largest employment law recoveries against a public entity in California history. The case, Leslie Pollard vs. City of Emeryville, is a major milestone in California employment law.

Ms. Pollard, a longtime employee of the city of Emeryville (a small city wedged between Berkeley and Oakland, directly across from the Golden Gate), had complained to her employer about racial comments and harassment by a co-worker. Emeryville's response was to force Ms. Pollard to undergo a psychiatric "fitness for duty" exam. Thereafter, she was pulled off the job. In essence, the employer attempted to retaliate against and get rid of her.

To read The San Francisco Chronicle account of the case, click here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... =printable

The East Bay Business Times version of the case can be accessed here:

http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/ ... =printable

This case is a good illustration of why workers should seek top-quality legal advice. Employment law is complicated. California workers' compensation is generally an "exclusive remedy" (i.e. you cannot sue your employer in most circumstances, and you are generally limited to workers' comp, which does not provide for full wage loss or damages). However, there are exceptions to this rule where there is discrimination because of race, sex, age, disability, and so forth. In those cases, a civil damages lawsuit may be a viable option.

Hats off to Leslie Levy and Darci Burrell for groundbreaking representation of California workers. We are very proud of their work at Boxer and Gerson LLP.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com

Great article in this week's business section of the Contra Costa Times... it features Gary Barkley Roth, Boxer & Gerson's newest personal injury trial lawyer.

Gary Roth was a successful trial lawyer (with a track record of several multi-million dollar trial verdicts) in New Orleans before the hurricane. Katrina wiped out his home. He (and his parents) lost their homes, and several relatives perished.

To read about Gary's compelling story in the Contra Costa Times piece, click here:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cct ... 532860.htm

Gary Roth will be handling third party civil personal injury cases at Boxer & Gerson.

Julius Young
www.boxerlaw.com