NFLPA's official Brady appeal letter....Whoa!

This letter is a LEGAL PIMPSLAP to the FACE!!



Eat that Goodell!! Tom Brady and the NFLPA ain't playing around!

AndyJohnson said:

No it is not. If he tries to do so, the NFLPA will challenge it in court:

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.

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You're raising a good point. Is the process more likely to be:

1. Goodell insists he's the arbitrator. The NFLPA sues and gets a neutral arbitrator chosen instead?

2. Goodell insists he's the arbitrator. Arbitration happens. The NFLPA sues and gets the a neutral arbitrator to do it over?

Here's one motive Goodell could have for going to court over the arbitrator choice. In essence, it's a court case where a loss doesn't cost him that much. So he can see what the other side has.

I.e., it might reduce his risks of losing long-shot suits such as defamation to Brady or anything to Kraft.

In thinking this over, I think the best and most critical legal point of the letter is that, according to the CBA, Roger Goodell did not have the authority to appoint Troy Vincent to handle the discipline. Unless the ruling against Brady is vacated, the NFLPA has every right (and responsibility) to take this issue to court and have the ruling vacated since it is not valid per the CBA. Without question, the courts are the rightful jurisdiction to adjudicate this matter. (It 's not nearly as clear that the courts should be involved in determining whether there is an independent arbitrator although I think the point raised in the NFLPA letter about calling Roger Goodell as a necessary witness is an excellent one in order to give the courts standing to rule on this.)

If the courts then make the sensible ruling that the Troy Vincent penalties are vacated, Roger Goodell would then be in the position to make a penalty judgment which he may choose to do. If he chooses to give some penalties to Tom Brady, then the NFLPA can appeal and Roger can't hear the appeal without rescinding his claim in 2014 that he will no longer both determine the penalty and hear the appeal. That will give the NFLPA an even stronger case to get an independent arbitrator.

Really, I think it's very unlikely that the penalties determined by Troy Vincent will stand up to a legal challenge - but I'm no lawyer.

When I shared the latest developments with my daughter she said, "this is just like 'The Good Wife'". Indeed it is.

The basic standard for "Conflict of Interest" is an "appearance of impropriety".. never has it been more obvious than it is in this case..

By not affording Brady his "Due Process Rights" will open the way for further Court involvement aside from however the appeal is handled...

Have to wonder if Goodell is screwing this up for a reason, either that or he is abdicating his power to other authorities as this very minor situation has gotten so out of control that he needs to blow the whole thing up.

Deflated footballs and weather influence are not a very big deal... and somehow the media frenzy and disbelief that the Pats have been this good for this long, only serves to show how much this has gotten off the rails.

Have to keep in mind that there is relatively minor differences between Bradys stats on the road(balls controlled by opposing team) and stats at home(balls controlled by Pats employees).. not to mention the stellar performance of Brady in the 4th quarter of the most recent SB..(12/15, 2 TD's, 125 yards)....

Goodell has to figure out a way to get out of this, what better way than to to abdicate his authority to another party..

"Accordingly, 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."

love it

Fencer said:

Here's one motive Goodell could have for going to court over the arbitrator choice. In essence, it's a court case where a loss doesn't cost him that much. So he can see what the other side has.

I.e., it might reduce his risks of losing long-shot suits such as defamation to Brady or anything to Kraft.

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By the same token, if they force Goodell to testify, they get him on record that could be used in a further appeal or in a"real" court. Goodell may be smooth with the media but going up against a seasoned litigator who knows how to ask questions is a very different ballgame.. I thought the league was limited to using the same evidence it had previously without introducing new evidence but Brady can use anything which is why they want to force Goodell and Vincent to testify...

Patsfanin Philly said:

I thought the league was limited to using the same evidence it had previously without introducing new evidence but Brady can use anything which is why they want to force Goodell and Vincent to testify...

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I've heard that often enough that I believe that it's true -- but it can only be true for certain kinds of lawsuits and processes, namely ones governed by labor law. If, for example, there were a defamation suit, I imagine all kinds of evidence would become allowable.

Fencer said:

I've heard that often enough that I believe that it's true -- but it can only be true for certain kinds of lawsuits and processes, namely ones governed by labor law. If, for example, there were a defamation suit, I imagine all kinds of evidence would become allowable.

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Interesting perspective.

Are you thinking that the NFL held back evidence from the Wells Report?

It would not surprise me.

An informed legal opinion:

Will There Be A Brady Lawsuit?

First things first. There is going to be an appeal of discipline, and different players have handled that in different ways with different results. Very hard to predict right now how that goes.

Roger Goodell will likely resist the appointment of a neutral decider. I think Brady's camp will likely argue that it is essential given information in the Wells Report that seems to blow off concerns about the NFL's role in Deflategate, such as the referee's obligations, lack of good measurement information, potential of bias of one of the key NFL personnel people who was a long term employee of the Jets.

The theory would be that punishment of Brady/Patriots is something that the NFL is partially doing because believing the Patriots' version of the story makes the NFL's actions the day of the alleged incident look bad.

If after appeal, Brady doesn't want to live with the result, the NFLPA may file an application to vacate the result on Brady's behalf.

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Regarding a Brady defamation suit:

There are plenty of reasons why a person who believes they were legitimately defamed would not file such a claim. Defamation cases by public figures are hard to win. They are expensive, time consuming, unpredictable, and privacy invading. And I don't even think Tom Brady has enough money to want to get into a civil lawsuit with the NFL, which has enough money they should be a part of the U.S. Treasury.

It's expensive. And public figures have a higher hurdle to prove than non-public figures. They have to prove "actual malice," which means that the person making the statement knew it to be false or said it with reckless disregard for the truth. In addition, if it is a matter of public interest, often those statements can be protected from defamation claims.

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http://abovethelaw.com/2015/05/shou...d-roger-goodell-a-deflategate-email-exchange/

Most of the legal issues being raised here arose in Bountygate, as discussed here:
http://www.stradleylaw.com/saints-bountygate-now-saints-litigate-common-qas/

Second, Mr. Brady’s discipline cannot be sustained for the additional reason that it contravenes the governing CBA requirement of fair and consistent treatment. See Rice at 16; Bounty at 4. Your decision to suspend Mr. Brady for four games—i.e., one-quarter of the NFL season—for his alleged “general[] aware[ness] of the actions of the Patriots’ employees involved in the deflation of the footballs” and “failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the [Wells] investigation” is grossly inconsistent with the League’s prior disciplinary treatment of similar alleged conduct, including lack of cooperation and not complying with League rules regarding game balls or other equipment.2 The law of the shop from Bounty, Rice, and other proceedings requires that this unfair and inconsistent treatment of Mr. Brady—an exponential change in the severity of the punishment without notice or due process—be vacated. Indeed, no player in the history of the NFL has ever received anything approaching this level of discipline for similar behavior—a change in sanctions squarely forbidden by the CBA and the law of the shop.

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robertweathers said:

Interesting perspective.

Are you thinking that the NFL held back evidence from the Wells Report?

It would not surprise me.

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No, I don't think that. But they could do more discovery in connection with a lawsuit.

Fencer said:

No, I don't think that. But they could do more discovery in connection with a lawsuit.

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The NFL will not be able to introduce anything new in the appeal, whether held by Goodell, an independent arbitrator or a judge. Brady is appealing the verdict rendered and the punishment handed out and the report is the NFL's basis for these actions. Essentially, there has been a trial in a kangaroo court, the prosecution has presented their case with no cross examination by the defense and no defense whatsoever allowed. The appeal is Brady's opportunity to present his side of the story.

Sfpat said:

The NFL will not be able to introduce anything new in the appeal, whether held by Goodell, an independent arbitrator or a judge. Brady is appealing the verdict rendered and the punishment handed out and the report is the NFL's basis for these actions. Essentially, there has been a trial in a kangaroo court, the prosecution has presented their case with no cross examination by the defense and no defense whatsoever allowed. The appeal is Brady's opportunity to present his side of the story.

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Even if it's just for the sake of impeaching Brady's evidence?

robertweathers said:

Interesting perspective.

Are you thinking that the NFL held back evidence from the Wells Report?

It would not surprise me.

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The exculpatory stuff that negated their theory of Brady's guilt or any evidence of a sting or nature was either ignored, buried in a footnote or purposely omitted.....Discovery requests will likely ask for all of Wells transcripts and reports. Again if he is "independent" there should be no attorney-client privilege invoked....If it is invoked, well you heard it here first........life will get very interesting and the light will shine on a few people and to quote somebody,
"ain't as much fun when the deer has the gun."

The problem with all these theories of legal recourse is that the legal system is not as blind as people seem to suggest: courts are often sensitive to PR.

The NFL's strategy was actually very clever. They leaked false defamatory information about the Patriots, inciting the media against the Patriots. They then forced the Patriots to NDA the correct information, preventing any ability for the Patriots to respond meaningfully.

Thus, from the NFL's point of view, they don't want to admit they were wrong; likewise now for the media. Combine this with few people having the time to pore over the details of the Wells report, and it's a tough situation.

You really have to wonder about the longterm viability of the NFL in it's current form.

This has been such a miscarriage of justice, and the fact that so many people see that but don't seem to care is not a good omen.

Are the Patriots ever going to be able to compete again on a level playing field when so many people are happy to see the Pats damaged regardless of whether the charges against them are even valid.

The fact that not only is the Pats getting docked a 1st round pick a heavy-handed punishment for the crime, even if the were guilty, which looks dubious, but the fact that the stipulation that the Pats highest 1st round pick be the forfeited one, in case they acquire one, is nothing less than spite.

SVN said:

Goodell will just appoint another arbitrator now. Him hearing the appeal was a strategic leak not an official announcement. This is what NFL does.

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Yes, but they are demanding a neutral, unbiased one. If not they will not stand by the ruling.

NashuaPats said:

Yes, they do....the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP

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Dewey, Cheatum & Howe

Ken Canin said:

The problem with all these theories of legal recourse is that the legal system is not as blind as people seem to suggest: courts are often sensitive to PR.

The NFL's strategy was actually very clever. They leaked false defamatory information about the Patriots, inciting the media against the Patriots. They then forced the Patriots to NDA the correct information, preventing any ability for the Patriots to respond meaningfully.

Thus, from the NFL's point of view, they don't want to admit they were wrong; likewise now for the media. Combine this with few people having the time to pore over the details of the Wells report, and it's a tough situation.

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That should give the Patriots and Tom Brady grounds for a defamation suit