Ontario Superior Court of Justice rules Ticats receiver Williams a free agent

TORONTO – The CFL Players’ Association says disgruntled receiver Chris Williams is now a free agent following an Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruling.

On Thursday, the court issued a ruling that quashed an arbitrator’s decision in June that Williams’s contract with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was binding even though the club violated the CFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the CFLPA.

Williams, the CFL’s top special-teams player last season, went to arbitration asking to be released from the final year of his contract with Hamilton to reportedly pursue NFL offers.

In June, arbitrator E.E. Palmer found the Ticats violated the CBA by negotiating with an unregistered agent but said the penalty was a fine and not the termination of the contract.

However, the Ticats weren’t fined because the CFLPA did not request one be imposed.

Palmer also found Hamilton had picked up the option on Williams’s contract last October in accordance to the CBA but didn’t use the exact language surrounding the renewal as laid out in the agreement.

But he also ruled that wasn’t enough to null the agreement.

Both the Ticats and CFL said Thursday they’ll appeal the Ontario Superior Court of Justice’s ruling.