UPDATED: Deflategate Hearing to be Held in New York- See Lawsuit Here
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
UPDATED: Deflategate Hearing to be Held in New York- See Lawsuit Here
The lawsuit filed by the NFLPA will be transferred to New York.
"The Court appreciates no "compelling circumstances" undermining application of the first-filed rule to transfer this action from Minnesota to New York, where the first action was filed. Indeed, the Court sees little reason for this action to have commenced in Minnesota at all. Brady plays for a team in Massachusetts; the Union is headquartered in Washington, D.C.; the NFL is headquartered in New York; the arbitration proceedings took place in New York; and the award was issued in New York," the Minnesota Courts in a statement.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe NFLPA suit asks the federal court to make a decision by September 4 or grant an injunction. If an injunction is granted, Tom Brady would be able to play until the legal process is over.
READ THE LAWSUIT HERE
The lawsuit claims that Brady's suspension should be vacated on the following grounds:
- Suspending Brady for claimed "general awareness" of alleged misconduct by other people, an unknown disciplinary standard never previously applied to players in the history of the NFL;
- Suspending Brady despite the fact that the Player Policies provide only for specified/zes for any type of equipment violation
- Subjecting Brady to the Competitive Integrity Policy, which applies only to Clubs-not players
- Suspending Brady for alleged non-cooperation, when a fine is the only penalty that has ever been upheld in such circumstances.
By ignoring each one of these notice failures, the Award-as in Peterson-utterly disregards the CBA law of the shop and must be vacated for deffing the essence of the CBA.
The Lawsuit then Goes after Goodell, who named himself the arbitrator for Tom Brady's appeal.
The award is the product of a fundamentally unfair process, and was issued by an evidently partial arbitrator who put himself in the position of ruling on the legality of his own improper delegation of authority in violation of the CBA.
Insight Into the June 23 Appeal Hearing
The lawsuit reveals the following details about the Brady appeal hearing that was held on June 23 in New York City. The appeal hearing lasted for just over ten hours.
Prior to the hearing, Goodell had ruled that Brady and the Union could not question essential witnesses, denied them access to the investigative files underlying the Wells Report (which were nonetheless available to the NFL's counsel at the arbitration), and summarily rejected Brady's unlawful delegation argument without considering any evidence (other than 'ofacts" decreed by Goodell himself in his decision).
Timing of the Lawsuit
The suit came just one day after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Tom Brady's 4 game suspension for his involvement in deflategate and on the eve of the Patriots beginning training camp.
5 Things to Know About Tom Brady's Appeal
The Suspension
Tom Brady was suspended for four games by the NFL on May 11 for his role in deflating footballs.
According to the Wells Report, "It is more probable than not that Tom Brady (the quarterback for the Patriots) was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities."
Tom Brady has yet to make a public comment on the report, except at a speaking engagement at Salem State, where he claimed to "have no reaction" to the report.
However, his agent, Don Yee, came out very strongly once the suspension was handed down.
“The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis. In my opinion, this outcome was pre-determined; there was no fairness in the Wells investigation whatsoever. There is no evidence that Tom directed footballs be set at pressures below the allowable limits," said Yee in a statement.
As it stands now (pre appeal result), Brady's first game back would be against the Indianapolis Colts in mid-October.
Jeffery Kessler
Shortly after the suspension was handed down, Tom Brady hired attorney Jeffery Kessler to represent him at hs appeal hearing.
Kessler has a histroy of winning big cases against the NFL, most recently a case in which Adrian Peterson was accused in May of 2014 for beating his son with a branch of a tree.
The case went to federal court and Peterson's suspension was vacated. He was reinstated on April 15, 2015.
Kessler has also represented player associations in all major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) and individual athletes in the NFL, NBA, AFL and MLS.
Goodell the Arbitrator
In mid-May, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appointed himself as the arbitrator in the hearing, despite the NFLPA demanding that an independent arbitrator be hired in a letter to the league.
Excerpt From Letter
This letter will serve as a formal demand that the Commissioner follow the Rice precedent and appoint an independent person to serve as arbitrator over Mr. Brady’s appeal. If the Commissioner does not appoint such a neutral arbitrator, the NFLPA and Mr. Brady will seek recusal and pursue all available relief to obtain an arbitrator who is not evidently partial.
Despite the NFLPA asking Goodell to recuse himself on a few other occasions, Goodell has refused to do so saying "I look forward to hearing directly from Tom if there is new information or there is information that can be helpful to us in getting this right."
Ted Wells at the Appeal
On Monday, June 22, it was reported that Ted Wells will be at Brady's appeal hearing and will likely testify.
Since the release of the report, Ted Wells has come under criticism from all angles, including a Wells Report Rebuttal, released by the Patriots, and has gone on a conference call with media members to defend his report.
“It is wrong to criticize my independence, just because you disagree with my findings," Wells said on the call.
With Jeffery Kessler doing the questioning, Wells will have to defend his report again.
If Brady wins/ loses
The NFL and NFLPA have left Thursday, June 25 open in case the hearing needs a second day, however, many reports indicate the hearing won't last longer than two days.
“If he is successful in his appeal, it ends there. If Tom isn't successful in the appeal, his only option is to sue in court,” said Attorney and GoLocalProv contributor AiVi Nguyen.
“The collective bargaining agreement is supposed to be the ONLY tool that the league uses to solve problems. Like it's meant to keep the courts out of it.
So if Brady sues in court, one of his arguments must be that Goodell either violated the CBA so it doesn't apply or that Goodell didn't fairly apply the CBA to Brady as compared to others,” Nguyen added.
