One key date in the 2017 NFL preseason has been set.
Jason Pierre-Paul's lawsuit against ESPN reporter Adam Schefter will go to trial next August after a federal judge ignored requests by both parties to delay court proceedings until after the NFL season.
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U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke on Tuesday set an Aug. 7, 2017 start date for the trial, ensuring a media sideshow as NFL teams prepare for next season. Attorneys for both sides had filed a joint motion last month to start the trial no earlier than Feb. 19, 2018, citing the importance of the league calendar to both men's day jobs and saying "neither would be available for any trial during the NFL preseason, season, and postseason."
The Giants star filed suit against Schefter in February after the NFL reporter obtained and published Pierre-Paul's medical records last July. Pierre-Paul had been hospitalized after a July 4 fireworks accident that led to the amputation of his right index finger and part of another finger. Four days after the incident, Schefter tweeted photos of Pierre-Paul's chart from Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital to corroborate his reporting on the amputation.
Jackson Memorial fired two employees earlier this year for "improperly accessing" Pierre-Paul's medical records.
