UFC
Nick Diaz, attorney pleased with precedent set against NSAC despite denial of injunction request
May 15, 2012 - 12:00:37 PM Nick Diaz, attorney pleased with precedent set against NSAC despite denial of injunction request

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Nick Diaz failed in his attempt to get an injunction on his temporary suspension on Monday. However, in a statement released by his attorney Ross Goodman on Judge Rob Bare's decision, they are claiming at least partial victory in setting a precedent for the future with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Here's the statement from Goodman:

"At today’s hearing of Nick Diaz’s motion for a preliminary injunction, District Court Judge Rob Bare clarified that the NSAC, like all other administrative agencies in Nevada, is required to comply with the law.

By failing to hold a final disciplinary hearing within 45 days of suspending Mr. Diaz’s license, the NSAC violated Diaz’s due process rights under NRS 233B. The Judge entirely rejected the NSAC’s claim that it is entitled to suspend fighters indefinitely pending a final hearing.

Judge Bare further held, as Ross C. Goodman argued, that if the NSAC imposes a “temporary suspension” on a fighter, the NSAC is legally required to hold a final disciplinary hearing within 45 days.

If the NSAC had not committed to setting Diaz’s final disciplinary hearing for Monday, May 21, 2012 – which the NSAC only agreed to do the last business day before today’s hearing – then, Judge Bare unequivocally and repeatedly stated, he would have ordered the NSAC to do so within 7 to 10 days.

Likewise, Judge Bare clarified that all fighters are entitled to the protection of the statutory 45 day time limit. The Judge rejected the NSAC’s suggestion that fighters are required attend the temporary suspension hearing in order to qualify for such protection. He rejected the NSAC’s position that Diaz lost the right to dispute the temporary suspension by electing not to attend the February 22, 2012 temporary suspension hearing.

Mr. Diaz is pleased to have obtained a valuable precedent for the benefit of all fighters licensed in Nevada."

Diaz's disciplinary hearing will indeed finally be conducted by the NSAC on May 21, but NSAC executive director Keith Kizer, along with the Nevada Attorney General, has rebuked Diaz's claims every step of the way. As he's a repeat offender with this, the NSAC may very well suspend him a full year when all is said and done.

Penick's Analysis: Yes, Goodman's case here in regards to the NSAC's timetable for hearings had some merit, and that played with this particular judge. However, when it comes to the discipline itself, it's going to come back to the NSAC and their own system, which has come under scrutiny and has been questioned by Goodman and Diaz for the last several months. When they're the ones making the decision here, it's hard to be optimistic about Diaz's chances with his case, especially with how long this has dragged out. It doesn't sit right at all that Diaz is facing a year for the inactive compound of marijuana being in his system, yet Alistair Overeem was just denied a license for nine months for injecting himself with a dangerous mix of drugs that included testosterone, but it's the difference between a first time drug failure and being a repeat offender.

[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]