Parrish et al v. National Football League Players Incorporated

Filing 587

Declaration of Herbert Anthony Adderley in Support of 584 MOTION for Attorney Fees --Class Counsel's Application for Preliminary and Final Determination of Costs, Fees, Expenses, and an Incentive Payment for Class Representative, Herbert Adderley, as well as Determination of Form of Class Notice and filed byHerbert Anthony Adderley. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B)(Related document(s) 584 ) (Katz, Ronald) (Filed on 11/26/2008)

Parrish et al v. National Football League Players Incorporated

Doc. 587

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MANATT, PHELPS & PHILLIPS, LLP RONALD S. KATZ (Bar No. CA 085713) E-mail: [e-mail] RYAN S. HILBERT (California Bar No. 210549) E-mail: [e-mail] NOEL S. COHEN (California Bar No. 219645) E-mail: [e-mail] 1001 Page Mill Road, Building 2 Palo Alto, CA 94304-1006 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] MCKOOL SMITH, P.C. LEWIS T. LECLAIR (Bar No. CA 077136) E-mail: Ileclair @mckoolsmith.com JILL ADLER NAYLOR (Bar No. CA 150783) E-mail: [e-mail]
300 Crescent Court Dallas, TX 75201 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] Attorneys far Plaintiffs

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 NORTHERN DISTRICT 15

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
16 17 HERBERT ANTHONY ADDERLEY, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, 20
VS.

CIVIL ACTION NO. C07 0943 WHA

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MANATT, PHELPS & PHILLIPS, LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW PALO AETO

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, a Virginia corporation , and NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS INCORPORATED d/b/a PLAYERS INC, a Virginia corporation, Defendants.

DECLARATION OF HERBERT ANTHONY ADDERLEY IN SUPPORT OF CLASS COUNSELS' APPLICATION FOR FEES, EXPENSES , AND AN INCENTIVE PAYMENT FOR CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, HERBERT ADDERLEY

ADDERLEY DECLARATION ISO CLASS COUNSELS' APPLICATION
CASE NO. C 07-0943 W HA

Dockets.Justia.com

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I, Herbert Anthony Adderley, declare as follows: 1. I am a party to this lawsuit. I am submitting this Declaration in support of Class

Counsels' application for an award of attorneys' fees in connection with services rendered in this action. The following declaration is based upon my personal knowledge. If called as a witness I could and would competently testify to the facts set forth herein. 2. I am a retired professional football player who played for more than 10 years in the

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National Football League ("NFL") for the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys. I was elected to be a member of the professional football Hall of Fame in 1980. 3. I did not keep a contemporaneous record of the time I spent working on this case.

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However, based on my knowledge of the tasks I performed in connection with this case from February 2007 to the present, I believe that I spent over 550 hours assisting Plaintiffs' counsel in the prosecution of this case. This is a conservative estimate. 4. I spent approximately 10 hours assisting Plaintiffs' counsel on each of the three

complaints that were filed in this action, for a total of 30 hours. 5. I also spent approximately 10 hours searching for and collecting documents in

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response to discovery requests sent by Defendants' counsel, and in specifically addressing Defendants' subsequent criticism of the scope of my document production, for which I eventually provided a signed declaration. In addition, I spent approximately 20 hours assisting Plaintiffs' counsel in responding to other discovery requests, including Plaintiffs' responses to Defendants' interrogatory requests, for which I provided a signed verification. 6. I spent approximately 30 hours reviewing correspondence from February 2007 to

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MANATT, PHELPS 8e II PHILLIPs, LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW PALO ALTO

the present. This includes correspondence sent to and received by Plaintiffs' counsel by and from Defendants' counsel, as well as a-mails sent to me by Plaintiffs' counsel. 7. I spent approximately 8 hours a day for 4 days - for a total of 32 hours - in

connection with my deposition. This includes time I spent preparing for and attending my deposition. This also includes time I spent subsequently reviewing the transcript of my deposition and working with Plaintiffs' counsel to correct errors in the transcript. 8. Over the last 20 months, I spent approximately 5 hours a day for 5 days - for a
ADDERLEY DECLARATION 2 ISO CLASS COUNSELS' APPLICATION CASE NO. C 07-0943 WHA

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total of 25 hours - meeting with counsel in connection with this case. 9. Even though I was precluded from seeing any of Defendants' confidential

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documents and information until May 2008, once I was allowed access to such documents, I spent approximately 180 hours reviewing them. 10. I spent approximately 10 hours a day for 24 days - for a total of 240 hours ---- in

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connection with the trial in this matter. This includes the time I spent attending every single day of trial (which began at 7:30 a.m.) despite my physical discomfort resulting from a back surgery, and the time I spent traveling from my home near Philadelphia to the location of the trial in San Francisco. It also includes the time I spent working with Plaintiffs' counsel to prepare for my role as a witness. 11. There were many retired players who supported me in this lawsuit. Attached as

Exhibit A is an article referring to the type of support I received from retired players during trial. Many retired players also congratulated me upon hearing of the verdict. However, I am aware of the tension between retired players and the National Football League Players Association ("NFLPA"), as well as the tension that existed between retired players and Gene Upshaw who, up until August 2008, was the head of both the NFLPA and Players Inc. 12. I had a legitimate concern that Defendants would retaliate against me because of

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my participation in this lawsuit. For example, I am aware that Gene Upshaw told the press in June 2007 (4 months after this lawsuit was filed) that he would break the neck of Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure, a leading advocate of retired NFL players, for questioning the modest benefits retired players receive from their union. Attached as Exhibit B is an article discussing Mr. Upshaw's comment. In addition, I have witnessed firsthand Defendants' aggressive behavior in response to this lawsuit, including Defendants' counsel's aggressive (and oppressive) behavior towards me at my deposition and the demeaning statements they made about me when opposing Plaintiffs' motion for class certification. This behavior, combined with statements such as the one made about Mr. DeLamielleure by Mr. Upshaw, further confirmed my fear of retaliation.

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MANATT, PHELPS SL PHILLfP3, LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW
PALO ALTO

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ADDERLEY DECLARATION ISO CLASS COUNSELS' APPLICATION
CASE NO. C 07-0943 WHA

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i declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration was executed on November"7I2008.

Herbert Anthony Adderley

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MANATT, PHELPS & II PHHLLFPS,
ATTOF PALO O ALTO

ADDERLEY DECLARATION

LW LAg LTT

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ISO CLASS COUNSELS' APPLICATION CASE NO. C 07-0943 WHA