Maurice Blackburn Lawyers will attempt to put a halt to ASADA’s Essendon investigations.
AFL club Essendon will step up its bid to put a halt to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s investigation into its 2012 supplement program after filing an injunction in the Federal Court on Monday.
Maurice Blackburn lawyers have also called for players to not have to respond to their show-cause notices until after the Federal Court hearing of the club’s challenge to the legality of ASADA’s investigation. A hearing for the injunction application has been set for Friday.
The injunction will also aim to prevent the Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel from determining whether to put any players on ASADA’s register of findings – the next step after the show-cause response period has expired.
Josh Bornstein, a principle at Maurice Blackburn, said he was disappointed that Essendon needed to make the injunction application after ASADA refused to put a halt on investigations on numerous occasions.
“We have written three times to ASADA’s lawyers seeking their co-operation to ensure this matter is dealt with quickly by the court and that pending a quick hearing, the investigation and show-cause process be halted (but) on each occasion ASADA has failed to agree to our request for an appropriate undertaking,” Bornstein said in a statement.
“It’s in the interests of all concerned – the club, the players, the AFL and the football community more broadly – for this legal challenge to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
“It is only fair that ASADA commit to take no further steps in its investigation until after the Federal Court has ruled on the legality of the investigation.
“If ASADA proceeds, the court will be prevented from effectively ruling on the legality of the investigation because events will have overtaken the legal process.
“Extending the date for responses to the show-cause notices until 11 July, and committing to not provide information to the ADRVP until 12 July, does not go far enough.”
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