State court suit over ‘no-call’ can proceed

A Louisiana judge won’t stop a lawsuit against the NFL over the playoff “no-call” that led to the Rams beating the Saints and advancing to the 2019 Super Bowl.

State Civil District Court Judge Nicole Sheppard ruled Thursday in the damage suit filed by attorney Antonio LeMon.

LeMon says that means Commissioner Roger Goodell and game officials can be questioned in depositions. The officials failed to call either pass interference or roughness penalties when a Rams player leveled a Saints receiver with a helmet-to-helmet hit at a crucial point in the NFC title game. A lawyer for the NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LeMon says he and three others filed the lawsuit to get at the truth of what happened in the game. Stanley Cup winner.

He will have complete control of operations under Seattle Hockey Partners CEO Tod Leiweke. The yet-tobe-named team will debut in 2021.

This is Francis’ first post-playing career job outside the Carolina Hurricanes. He worked with them for 12 years and was general manager from 201418 after retiring. The Hurricanes didn’t make the playoffs while he was there, but he set in motion many player decisions that helped Carolina reach the Stanley Cup finals last season.

Francis had a prolific NHL career. He finished with 1,798 points in 1,731 games over 23 seasons for the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins, where he won the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.