Florio: Judge Berman put a poison pill in his ruling

Canuck said:

If the appellate court remands the case and sends it back to the lower court but doesn't reverse it, I presume
that the suspension still remains overturned.

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The won't send it back without reversing. They would affirm, and then the NFL would have to take it to the Supreme Court (which has discretionary review aka they don't have to take the case).

raduray said:

Thanks. Yours is a useful perspective. Would there be additional hearings or would Berman amend his ruling based on the existing record?

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I believe there could be additional hearings if Berman wanted them. Most of my knowledge comes from reading opinions, civil procedure, not actually taking part in appellate work (so I'm not 100% sure on re additional hearings).

Cases mostly settle (don't go to trial very often), and junior associates (me, been practicing for 3 years) at these large firms rarely get to go trial, let alone an appellate review.

I wonder if the NFL will first even think of this by reading PFT. Imagine if the NFL's $1,000 an hour attorneys need a football gossip blog to get critical legal info.

BTW:

Kessler/NFLPA: 5-0

Pash/NFL: 0-5

raduray said:

I guess I don't really understand that. What would be the downside of a fair neutral disciplinary process? Why is the NFL fighting so hard against that?

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Even if they aren't against it, I think they still at least want the NFLPA to give something up in exchange for getting a fair, neutral process.

BradyFTW! said:

Even if they aren't against it, I think they still at least want the NFLPA to give something up in exchange for getting a fair, neutral process.

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Hmm, the American way as a bargaining chip. Way to go NFL.

Hopefully Berman doesn't decide to retire before this is put to bed. He's not young.

Maybe the time will come when fans start to look to other sports more favorably. Owners may conclude it's time to take their lumps and move on. It just has not happened yet.

IcyPatriot said:

BTW:

Columbia has kicked Harvard's ass again ... I'm sure this angle is being played out at these Ivy League institutions.

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That would explain why Fencer is absent, he's having Kessler's face tattooed to his ass.

While embarrassed I'm sure Fencer will be fine with it as " the Columbia man" will always be Below him.

RecoveringCowboy said:

Maybe the time will come when fans start to look to other sports more favorably. Owners may conclude it's time to take their lumps and move on. It just has not happened yet.

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It has with me, I can't wait for hockey to begin.

Concussion Protocol said:

Hopefully Berman doesn't decide to retire before this is put to bed. He's not young.

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Even if he retires, he can basically just go in "not taking new cases" status and still come back and hear this case. That is what Judge Doty is doing. He is basically retired, but returns for cases that he already ruled on but needs additional attention like the NFL being in contempt of his order in the Peterson case.

raduray said:

I guess I don't really understand that. What would be the downside of a fair neutral disciplinary process? Why is the NFL fighting so hard against that?

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By this point I'd say:

• There really is major downside for Goodell. If he isn't seen as the maximum dictator everybody is afraid to cross, his reign will come tumbling down.
• The NFL owners wrongly think the downside of letting some unpopular criminals skate offsets the upside of, you know, being honest and fair and friendly to your employees and trustworthy to the public.

Too bad he didn't put a poison pill in Goodell's drink also.

raduray said:

Can he really do that? Add new grounds to his decision? Just like Goodell did? How appropriate is that?

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He can do whatever he wants, He's **** Berman, that why we love him.


All of a sudden I feel like A billionaire.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Too bad he didn't put a poison pill in Goodell's drink also.

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Oh oh oh, you went there, you Minihaned him.

BradyFTW! said:

I don't think they can, to be honest. Stakes are too high. Losing god-emperor commissioner powers in the court that they claim should preside over all arbitration issues is too big a loss for the NFL. Even if they know they're 95% likely to lose, they have to see the appeal process through, because losing is tantamoun to a major CBA concession without getting anything back in exchange.

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The point is not him having the final authority to arbitrate, he has that right. The point is he has to be fair and not try to break new ground for every infraction that he sees. When in the future he believes that the guy is guilty and there are questions on his ability to be "impartial" he has the authority to choose an impartial arbiter and if he does the union won't have a case regarding his authority.

raduray said:

I guess I don't really understand that. What would be the downside of a fair neutral disciplinary process? Why is the NFL fighting so hard against that?

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That's really unfair to billionaires, that's not how they conduct business.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Too bad he didn't put a poison pill in Goodell's drink also.[/QUOTE

Murder? Oh no, I'm horrified

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Chiuba E. Obele said:

Seems rather far-fetched to me...why would Brady or the PA want to re-try this, even if the NFL does prevail?

Berman would have done them a service to just include those arguments. So I dunno if I buy what Florio is saying

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Pretty sure it wouldn't be up to them. The case doesn't get retried (I don't believe), the appeals court would merely remand it to Berman for a new ruling taking their position into account.

So in that light, what Florio said makes some sense.

patman52 said:

The point is not him having the final authority to arbitrate, he has that right. The point is he has to be fair and not try to break new ground for every infraction that he sees. When in the future he believes that the guy is guilty and there are questions on his ability to be "impartial" he has the authority to choose an impartial arbiter and if he does the union won't have a case regarding his authority.

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He has that right now, sure. We're discussing why the NFL would be reluctant to give up that right of its own accord. And they'd be reluctant to give it up because that's a concession. and The way CBA negotiations work is that you're loathe to give anything up for free. They'd much rather concede this point--and get something else in exchange--than lose it without gaining anything.