Forbes v. Eagleson

Five former National Hockey League ("NHL") players, David S. Forbes, Richard D. Middleton, D. Bradford Park, Ulf Nilsson, and Douglas D. Smail, have brought this RICO class action on behalf of all individuals who played NHL professional hockey during the time in which defendant R. Alan Eagleson served as executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association ("NHLPA"). The complaint, as amended, alleges that Eagleson committed a variety of wrongful acts during his two-plus decades as head of the NHLPA which led to his criminal prosecution and conviction based on his pleas of guilty in both the United States and Canada. Count I of the complaint alleges that the NHL, its member teams, its president, John Ziegler, and the chairman of its board of governors, William Wirtz (collectively, the "NHL defendants"), conspired to bribe Eagleson to sell out the players interests in collective bargaining. Count II of the complaint alleges that Eagleson and certain companies with which he was affiliated conspired to pilfer NHLPA funds over the course of many years. The principal issue on this appeal is whether the district court correctly granted Eagleson and the NHL defendants summary judgment on Count I on statute of limitations grounds. While Count II remains pending before the district court, and thus is not at issue on appeal, we nevertheless have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. S 1291, as the district court properly certified its summary judgment as final on Count I pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b).