Lawsuits & Legal Matters

John Regis is going to be let out of prison at age 91. He's served over 11 years for perpetrating one of the largest corps. fraud cases in history. In the process he literally nearly destroyed* the Buffalo Sabres.

(* The Sabres ran a real risk of being moved or simply folding before Tom Golisano stepped in to stroke his ego and advance his political aspirations.)

He's not being let out for serving his sentence, or because of good behavior. He has advanced terminal cancer with maybe six months to live. The gubnit prefers people to die on they're own dime.

 

I guess his son's still in the can, he would've never served that much time up here.

 

The next phase of the Dennis Wideman saga will take place this week.

After NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld the 20-game suspension handed to the Calgary Flames defenceman last Wednesday for knocking linesman Don Henderson to the ice, the NHLPA announced its intention to appeal the ruling to an independent arbitrator, which will take place Thursday and Friday in New York City with arbitrator James Oldham.

The players? union released a statement last week, citing that the NHL?s initial suspension was too harsh.

?We are extremely disappointed but not surprised that Gary Bettman upheld the decision of his staff to suspend Dennis Wideman for 20 games,? the NHLPA said in a statement. ?This decision completely ignores the effects of the concussion that Dennis sustained when he was driven into the boards eight seconds before colliding with the linesman. We will appeal to the Neutral Discipline Arbitrator in order to have this decision overturned.?
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Too harsh? He's lucky to still have a job in the NHL.

 

Dennis Wideman arbitrator expected to rule week of March 7

The arbitrator ruling on the Dennis Wideman case expects to make a decision during the week of March 7, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com.

"Bill Daly spoke to the media here, said the arbitrator in Wideman's hearing doesn't anticipate siding on the case until the week of March 7."

Wideman was suspended 20 games by the NHL for hitting linesman Don Henderson on Jan. 27. The NHL upheld the length of the suspension upon a first appeal, so the NHLPA appealed to an independent arbitrator for a final ruling.

The length of time this process has taken has upset the Calgary Flames and their president of hockey operations, Brian Burke. Wideman will miss his 13th game Saturday and should the arbitrator reduce the suspension to, say, less than 13, Wideman would be recoup salary lost for extra game he sat out.

Wideman is currently losing $28,226 per game.

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/n...--deems-allegations--unfounded-205901061.html

 

Well, I guess its officially over... just hope the right thing was done and both parties involved learned from the experience.

 

I hope that Patrick Kane makes the smart move and buys a nice house on Lake Michigan to replace his home on Lake Erie. He can afford it, and he just needs to get out of the fishbowl in his hometown.

 

Yeah, too much trouble awaits him back home.

 

He definitely scored a lot this year.

 

Kaner always scores.

 

Dennis Wideman saves money, not games with appeal verdict

Roughly a month and a half after the controversial incident, the Dennis Wideman appeal process is over.

Independent arbitrator James Oldham chopped the NHL?s 20-game suspension of the Calgary Flames defenceman in half Friday, making it a 10-game ban. Wideman won?t get back the extra nine games he?s sat out, but he will be reimbursed $282,258.06 in lost pay.

Oldham?s decision reads as follows:

The Commissioner?s basic conclusion ? that Wideman?s on-ice behavior resulting in Linesman Henderson?s concussion constituted physical abuse of an official calling for Supplemental Discipline for on-ice conduct ? was correct. Also, the Commissioner?s use of League Rule 40 (?Physical Abuse of Officials?) as a framework for analysis was appropriate.

The Commissioner?s conclusion, however, that Wideman?s behavior constituted intentional action within the meaning of Rule 40.2, automatically triggering a penalty of not less than twenty games, is not endorsed in this appeal because, in my opinion, that conclusion is not substantially supported by the totality of the evidence presented to me at the NDA hearing.

In my judgment, the proper penalty should have been that specified in League Rule 40.3. Taking into account Wideman?s eleven years of discipline-free performance as a professional hockey player, there is no occasion to go beyond the ten game minimum specified in Rule 40.3.

Dennis Wideman?s penalty, therefore, should be reduced from twenty games to ten games, and it is so ordered.

The case was heard March 5 and 6 in New York City.

 

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) ? Prosecutors say Buffalo Sabres forward Evander Kane will not face criminal charges following an investigation into a possible sexual assault.

Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Flaherty announced that the decision was made after an examination of the facts, including the results of forensic and toxicological testing.

Reports surfaced in December that Buffalo police were investigating a claim made against the player about an incident that occurred at a downtown Buffalo hotel where Kane is living. Flaherty says no criminal complaint was ever filed.

Kane, who is from North Vancouver, British Columbia, has denied doing anything wrong.

The 24-year-old Kane is in his first full season in Buffalo after he was acquired in a multi-player trade with the Winnipeg Jets a year ago.

 

When it comes to reports of sexual and domestic assault cases I think we should always bear in mind one fact. Men are sometimes the victims. I am not denying that women are much more likely to be the victim, but the estimates* for the number of male victims is very surprising. (* Many female victims do not report their cases, but this is thought to be even higher in the cases of male victims. That is why I use "estimates" rather than "statistics".)

Forensics are pretty sophisticated these days. It's interesting that the Buffalo/Erie County DA offices have investigated two high profile Kane cases and have determined there was no reason to attempt prosecution. I have no idea for what actually happened in either case, but I will accept the findings and move on.

 

one outside kind of thing grabbed my attention, why is he still living in a hotel?

 

They've got some real nice hotels connected to Pegulaville, a.k.a. the HarborCenter & FNC. Looking forward to staying there at the Marriott for the WJC 2018.

 

Thought this was interesting and I agree and back the officials.

NHL Officials Association deplores Wideman ruling in statement

The National Hockey League Officials Association released a statement Saturday expressing its disagreement with an arbitrator?s decision to reduce Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman?s suspension to 10 games.

Wideman was handed a 20-game suspension on Feb. 3 for colliding with Don Henderson and cross-checking the linesman to the ice during a Jan. 27 game versus the Nashville Predators.

The NHLOA said it ?strongly disagrees with the arbitrator?s decision,? adding ?The message in reducing the suspension that is sent to NHL players, as well as athletes all over the world, including children, is that the code of conduct toward officials has changed.?

The veteran defenceman saw his suspension reduced to 10 games Friday. Although he already missed 19 games, Wideman will see half of the $564,516.13 he lost in salary repaid. Wideman returned to the Flames? lineup Friday night, playing 18 minutes in a 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

Linesman Don Henderson has not worked since the incident. The 47-year-old is recovering from concussion symptoms.

Wideman, who has one more season remaining on his contract with a $5.25-million cap hit, has two goals and 19 points in 49 games this season. (SN)

 

Linesman hit by Wideman is out for season with concussion

The linesman knocked to the ice by Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman in January is still recovering from the concussion he suffered and is out for the season, according to the NHL Officials Association.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press by a league spokesman Saturday morning, the NHLOA said it "strongly disagrees" with the decision by an independent arbitrator to reduce Wideman?s suspension from 20 games to 10. Arbitrator James Oldham made that ruling Friday.

"The message in reducing the suspension that is sent to NHL players, as well as athletes all over the world, including children, is that the code of conduct towards officials has changed," the NHLOA said.

Wideman struck Don Henderson during the second period of a game against Nashville on Jan. 27. Both finished the game but were diagnosed with concussions.

"Both of them testified that they can remember almost nothing about what happened during the minutes immediately after their heads hit the glass or the boards," Oldham wrote in his 18-page opinion.

Henderson hit his head on the boards on the way down. At Wideman's disciplinary hearing, Henderson testified that he felt as if he "got hit by a bus."

 

Cowboys' Jerry Jones vehemently denies link between football and CTE

Despite the NFL publicly acknowledging a link between football and CTE for the first time earlier this month, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is still not convinced there is any connection.

Jones, speaking at the owners meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., said he has not seen enough medical and scientific research to definitively say that playing football could cause CTE.

"We don't have that knowledge and background and scientifically, so there's no way in the world to say you have a relationship relative to anything here," Jones said, via The Washington Post. "There's no research. There's no data.... We're not disagreeing. We're just basically saying the same thing. We're doing a lot more. It's the kind of thing that you want to work... to prevent injury. A big part of this is prevention. But the other part of it is to basically understand that we don't know or have any idea that there is a consequence as to any type of head injury in the future."

Jeff Miller, the NFL's senior vice president for health and safety policy, acknowledged a link last week while on Capitol Hill. When asked by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) about a potential link, Miller said "the answer to that is certainly, yes."

t was the first time a senior league official has conceded football's connection to the brain disease. But that apparently isn't good enough for Jones, who was asked by a reporter if he thought there was enough data to make the connection.

"No, that's absurd," Jones said. "There's no data that in any way creates a knowledge. There's no way that you could have made a comment that there is an association and some type of assertion. In most things, you have to back it up by studies. And in this particular case, we all know how medicine is. Medicine is evolving. I grew up being told that aspirin was not good. I'm told that one a day is good for you.... I'm saying that changed over the years as we've had more research and knowledge.
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Just thought i would post this here, because maybe owners and GM's even in hockey might think the same. It's really this kind of thinking that boggles my brain. Jones claims there's no evidence or scientific data, but at the same time he talks out the other side of his mouth that it bunk.

 

then why are all those ex-players like seau, andre waters and many others committing suicide in their 40's and 50's and test results show their brains are like a person being 80 yrs old with advanced Parkinson's or Alzheimers? What more proof does he need?

 

This doesn't just affect football players. Many people have the disease that have never put a helmet on. My Dad had Parkinson's and he he had a desk job for the government. So what does this mean? Football players get their medical bills paid while the rest of us don't and their millionaires? What's to say a football player got CTE but it never evolved from football? Lets say he just developed it and can claim he developed it playing in the NFL? Who's going to disprove that? When they play the game and make millions they know what their getting into, period. The NFL should not have to foot a millionaires medical bill when he's retired! Completely ridiculous!!!!!!