Can the Patriots sue league personnel as individuals?

We all have heard that it's extremely difficult for the Patriots to sue the league. If the language for that is well-crafted, then they probably can't sue individual league employees either.

But is the language indeed so crafted?

If not, there's a strong case to be made for suing Gardi, who gave the Pats incorrect information that greatly hampered their decision-making process around defending themselves.

IMO, the person with the best case for a defamation of character suit is McNally who was defamed by Kelly Naqi of ESPN based on false information from the League office. He is not a public figure so has a lot lower threshold than Brady.

Anyone can sue anyone, unless there is a contractual arrangement that forbids such suits.

mgteich said:

Anyone can sue anyone, unless there is a contractual arrangement that forbids such suits.

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Well, isn't that what he's asking? Is there a contractual arrangement that forbids such suits?

mgteich said:

Anyone can sue anyone, unless there is a contractual arrangement that forbids such suits.

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Right. I recall that's what the issue was with the Vilma defamation case. He sued Goodell as an individual. Judge said Goodell was acting as Commissioner, and the CBA forbids the union from bringing a suit against the Conmissioner. I may have the specific details wrong but the spirit here is correct.

Not sure what type of restrictions, if any, are in the NFL owners' agreement.

Wondered about defamation against Kensil, Pash et al

KenSims said:

Well, isn't that what he's asking? Is there a contractual arrangement that forbids such suits?

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Correct. That's what I'm asking.

Hammer of Thor said:

Right. I recall that's what the issue was with the Vilma defamation case. He sued Goodell as an individual. Judge said Goodell was acting as Commissioner, and the CBA forbids the union from bringing a suit against the Conmissioner. I may have the specific details wrong but the spirit here is correct.

Not sure what type of restrictions, if any, are in the NFL owners' agreement.

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That is a perfect set up then: make Kensil choose between being sued personally or take the position that he gave false information to Mortensen while acting as VP of Operations for the NFL.

there is no hard evidence against kensil at this point. if the brady lawsuit leads to information about kensil being the ring leader, that's when you file the lawsuit.

That's the avenue that Kraft could take to get the picks back. I recall that there is no way to sue the league for the Commish's decisions - that the owners' agreements bar that, and since Kraft ignored the appeal process option no judge would take it anyway.

But if the owners' agreements state that the league office needs to be unbiased and protect the interests of each of its clubs, similar to Brady, Kraft could try to sue for huge monetary damages on the grounds that proper process wasn't followed. If that has any merit with the court, it could force the NFL to the bargaining table to reach a settlement that involves at least a return of the 2016 first round pick.

Perhaps suing them individually ? He has deeper pockets than Goodell'
S stooges.. Sue Mort also unless he gives up his sources.

Can season ticket holders try to sue or would it be tossed immediately?