Vikings' Williams Wall to survive

Kevin and Pat Williams are proving to be as successful in court as they are in stopping opposing running backs. The Pro Bowl defensive tackles scored their latest legal victory late Thursday afternoon when they learned they will be able to stay on the field for the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs if the Vikings advance.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson assured this when he extended his injunction against the NFL's suspension of five players for violating the league's steroid policy until the parties have an opportunity to conduct a full hearing on the issues. Magnuson requested the sides propose a schedule by Dec. 22 for future proceedings that would result in an eventual hearing on the merits of the case.

The Vikings finish the regular season Dec. 28 against the New York Giants. Peter Ginsberg, the New York-based lawyer for the Williamses, said he believes the process will take months rather than weeks to play out.

"I expect the ruling will allow the players to play through the playoffs," he said.

Ginsberg called the 20-page decision issued by Magnuson "a huge victory" for his clients.

The Vikings, who are not part of the Williamses lawsuit, did not comment on Magnuson's decision.

The Williamses, along with three players from the New Orleans Saints, faced four-game bans that were handed down by the NFL on Dec. 2. The five took a weight-loss supplement called StarCaps. The supplement contained the NFL-banned drug bumetanide, which was not listed as an ingredient. The diuretic aids weight loss, but can also mask steroid use.

The players claim the league has known about the presence of bumetanide in StarCaps since 2006 and failed to issue a warning. The NFL, which maintains a list of approved products, has claimed it is not obligated to provide warnings about specific products that are not on that list.

"This is consistent with what I believe justice requires," Ginsberg said. "It's a fair result and given the facts the right result and what we had hoped for."

There are actually two legal cases at work. The first was brought by the Williamses last week and resulted in the two being able to play in the Vikings' victory last Sunday at Detroit. The NFL Players Association quickly followed and filed a suit to block the suspension of not only the Williamses but also three Saints players --running back Deuce McAllister and defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith. (Grant is out for the season because of a triceps injury).

Greg Aiello, the NFL's senior vice president of public relations, called Magnuson's ruling, "consistent with the approach the judge has taken in giving careful consideration to these issues, which we fully respect."

Magnuson urged both parties to reach a solution. If that does not happen, the judge will preserve the status quo until he can hold a full evidentiary hearing on the case. He gave both sides until Dec. 22 to try to negotiate a proposed schedule for filing papers ahead of that hearing. He will determine the schedule himself if that fails to occur but he did not set a hearing date.

Ginsberg refused to comment on if he had been in talks with the NFL about a settlement. The judge said the players union had shown it likely will succeed on its claims that NFL breached its duty to the players by failing to share what it knew about StarCaps.

Another issue is whether Jeffrey Pash, the NFL's chief legal officer, who upheld the five players' suspensions, was too biased to be an arbitrator.

Because there are substantial questions about the process used to suspend the players, Magnuson said, they would suffer irreparable harm by being suspended. And if the suspensions are improper, he said, allowing them to go forward would violate the public interest.

"It is disturbing that NFL officials thought so little about the health and safety of the players, deciding to attempt to punish the players -- who were deceived by NFL officials -- rather than to review the league's shortcomings and failings," Ginsberg said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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