Can Tom sue the NFL and Wells Firm?

Here is this publicly released erroneous report, which does not even include Tom' testimony, which has
significantly hurt his reputation cast doubt on his character without him even having
his day in court. Shouldn't Tom have his day in a real court to restore his good name.
Maybe such a law suit would make the NFL think twice about unfairly destroying a players reputation.

More probable than not.

He will have problem suing them unless he can really prove the report was slanted and disregarded evidence that would exonerate him. Otherwise, it would likely be thrown out in summary judgement.

If the League suspends him, he will most definitely sue to get the suspension lifted.

Can he file a lawsuit? Sure.
Can he file a lawsuit for libel/defamation that he can win? Probably not.

ctpatsfan77 said:

Can he file a lawsuit? Sure.
Can he file a lawsuit for libel/defamation that he can win? Probably not.

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The league & Wells worded the report very carefully so not to provoke a defamation suit. That's why the word "probably" is in the report a billion times. If TB sued on the report's contents, they'd argue that it was speculative in nature and not intentionally condemning.

Now, with that said if they attempt to suspend him, that is a statement which condemns TB12 publicly. Brady can then argue that a suspension without cause or proof damages his reputation and earnings (salary endorsements, etc) and then look to seek punitive damages.

Depending on what the league decides to do, it could escalate quickly.

He could sue, the question is whether he would want to. I assume his attorneys (one of whom is his agent) have advised him to see what the punishment is before doing anything. As others have pointed out, they've already fired a warning shot in the statement Don Yee issued today, saying the report is shoddy and it's not going to be taken lyiny down. If the NFL was smart, they'd levy a $5,000 or $10,000 fine and say the rules violation had no impact on the game, making it not worthwhile for Brady to sue. But so far, the NFL has not proven itself to be very smart.

If u sue. u open yourself up to discovery ie: cell phone texts etc.

PatsDeb said:

He could sue, the question is whether he would want to. I assume his attorneys (one of whom is his agent) have advised him to see what the punishment is before doing anything. As others have pointed out, they've already fired a warning shot in the statement Don Yee issued today, saying the report is shoddy and it's not going to be taken lyiny down. If the NFL was smart, they'd levy a $5,000 or $10,000 fine and say the rules violation had no impact on the game, making it not worthwhile for Brady to sue. But so far, the NFL has not proven itself to be very smart.

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We are all aware how competitive TB12 is and how much pride he has.

I think if the fine was $10...he'd still sue. The league is damaging his legacy and the Brady name. I think this is something he is taking very personally.

robertweathers said:

The league & Wells worded the report very carefully so not to provoke a defamation suit. That's why the word "probably" is in the report a billion times. If TB sued on the report's contents, they'd argue that it was speculative in nature and not intentionally condemning.

Now, with that said if they attempt to suspend him, that is a statement which condemns TB12 publicly. Brady can then argue that a suspension without cause or proof damages his reputation and earnings (salary endorsements, etc) and then look to seek punitive damages.

Depending on what the league decides to do, it could escalate quickly.

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So its a win win for Brady.

If he sue them they will argue that that it was speculative in nature and not intentionally condemning, so this report fails to present proof of something. They cant do sh*

PatsGuy said:

If u sue. u open yourself up to discovery ie: cell phone texts etc.

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Really? I sue you for a report you can have all my info... weird

patsbrasilpatriotas said:

So its a win win for Brady.

If he sue them they will argue that that it was speculative in nature and not intentionally condemning, so this report fails to present proof of something. They cant do sh*

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Kind of. TB12 won't sue Wells. He'll sue the league.

I can guarantee you Troy Vincent has been in all-day meetings with NFL GC.

This isn't some scrub like Rice, Brady is arguably the biggest star in the NFL and if he takes the NFL to court, it will not be good for the league. I hope he does and fights for not only his name, but the teammates that are being brought down too. Brady is a good man, and I 110% believe he is innocent. This report infuriates me and I'm not even the one being attacked!

I'm not a Lawyer and I don't play one on TV. I've also learned that it's dangerous for those of us who don't know what we're talking about to throw around advice at a time like this. I posted this in another thread and I'm posting it again because I don't have anything much else to say about this until the League hands down its "sanctions" or whatever they call them.

Neither Kraft nor the organization is implicated in this report, since it specifically takes Belichick and (by implication) his staff off the hook. It is clearly all "on Brady" and on what the report asks us to believe was a rogue operation run at his behest.

This is way out of my bailiwick, but Brady/Bundchen are one of the few non-owner "entities" in the NFL whose pockets are deep enough to go toe-to-toe with the League in litigation if they so choose; presumably, the Krafts would chip in, but I'm not so sure given the weak tone of Kraft's comments to date. However, the tone of Yee's statement suggests that Brady might be leaning in the direction of litigating this.

If I were his friend, I'd advise Brady to get opinions from one or two top legal minds who are knowledgeable of the kind of litigation he would need to pursue.

I'm a layman, so I have no idea where he would go for those opinions or what his recourse might be, but I'd probably think along the lines of a Bob Barnett, David Boies or Ted Olson, any one of whom would charge what most of us would count as a big chunk of our wages just to give him their view. I'd advise him to get a hard-nosed assessment of his likelihood of success and potential costs.

I'd advise him then to sit down with his most trusted advisers and decide what to do.

PatsDeb said:

He could sue, the question is whether he would want to. I assume his attorneys (one of whom is his agent) have advised him to see what the punishment is before doing anything. As others have pointed out, they've already fired a warning shot in the statement Don Yee issued today, saying the report is shoddy and it's not going to be taken lyiny down. If the NFL was smart, they'd levy a $5,000 or $10,000 fine and say the rules violation had no impact on the game, making it not worthwhile for Brady to sue. But so far, the NFL has not proven itself to be very smart.

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We're lucky.

Imagine if it were the other way around and Ernie Adams and Bill Belichick were scheming for all these years against the Pats, who were led by Roger Goodell and Mike Kensil. The JetSons would probably be serving time in cells by now and Kraft would be a pauper begging for change on a corner.

I don't care what the penalty is. I'll stick by the Pats.

The only person I'm at all disappointed in is Kraft.

robertweathers said:

Kind of. TB12 won't sue Wells. He'll sue the league.

I can guarantee you Troy Vincent has been in all-day meetings with NFL GC.

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He'd have to sue both as the NFL would just defend the complaint saying they hired an independent investigator so they are not liable for what's contained in the report.

robertweathers said:

We are all aware how competitive TB12 is and how much pride he has.

I think if the fine was $10...he'd still sue. The league is damaging his legacy and the Brady name. I think this is something he is taking very personally.

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I'm sure he is taking it very personally (who could blame him), but if the NFL levies a small fine and says something like the report was unclear or flawed, and the rules violation had no impact on the game, his advisors would probably tell him that it isn't worth it to sue.

I believe the NFL won't do the right or smart thing though (they haven't done it so far), and will try to suspend Brady or levy a hefty fine, thus leading him to sue their asses off and probably win, several years from now. It won't be fun for anyone though. I worry about Brady saying F-it and retiring more than anything else.

PatsDeb said:

He'd have to sue both as the NFL would just defend the complaint saying they hired an independent investigator so they are not liable for what's contained in the report.

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In litigation you want one target. Yee will go after the NFL.

Both sides will use the report as a foundation to support their respective arguments

The NFL will use Wells as supporting their assertion that Brady violated NFL rules and should be punished.

Yee will cross examine Wells, his team, referees, the Colts, Kensil, Ravens, etc. They just might have them give a deposition. Don't know.

Regardless, he will rip them apart and bring all the ugliness to the light of day.

No one wants this but that is where it MIGHT go.

robertweathers said:

In litigation you want one target. Yee will go after the NFL.

Both sides will use the report as a foundation to support their respective arguments

The NFL will use Wells as supporting their assertion that Brady violated NFL rules and should be punished.

Yee will cross examine Wells, his team, referees, the Colts, Kensil, Ravens, etc. They just might have them give a deposition. Don't know.

Regardless, he will rip them apart and bring all the ugliness to the light of day.

No one wants this but that is where it MIGHT go.

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Au contraire. You want as many targets as possible so they all trip over each other blaming eachother (and then have to contribute to the whopping out-of-court confidential settlement).

PatsDeb said:

I'm sure he is taking it very personally (who could blame him), but if the NFL levies a small fine and says something like the report was unclear or flawed, and the rules violation had no impact on the game, his advisors would probably tell him that it isn't worth it to sue.

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I agree 100%. In a perfect world, Yee, Kraft, Goody and TB all should get in a room and hash out how everyone can safe face and move on.

PatsDeb said:

I believe the NFL won't do the right or smart thing though (they haven't done it so far), and will try to suspend Brady or levy a hefty fine, thus leading him to sue their asses off and probably win, several years from now. It won't be fun for anyone though.

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It'll be awful. No one want it.

PatsDeb said:

I worry about Brady saying F-it and retiring more than anything else.

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That thought crossed my mind. Does TB12 really want his HoF career to end like this?[/QUOTE]

robertweathers said:

In litigation you want one target. Yee will go after the NFL.

Both sides will use the report as a foundation to support their respective arguments

The NFL will use Wells as supporting their assertion that Brady violated NFL rules and should be punished.

Yee will cross examine Wells, his team, referees, the Colts, Kensil, Ravens, etc. They just might have them give a deposition. Don't know.

Regardless, he will rip them apart and bring all the ugliness to the light of day.

No one wants this but that is where it MIGHT go.

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Given how far the league office and media has gone out of their way over the years to smear this organization, its staff and players, it's really where it must go.

There's more at stake here than Brady's or the Pats reputations. The rest of the country might love this because its not their team or franchise QB being targeted for a witch hunt, but it's an extremely dangerous precedent that will come back to bite organizations and players other than the Pats or Brady.