Elliott is getting the Brady treatment in his appeal hearing.....

[Doctor DDS]

The NFL continues to make a complete fool of itself. The NFLPA/EE camp contends that "there was a League-orchestrated conspiracy by senior NFL executives ... to hide critical information" Sounds amazingly familiar. Why the league is so obsessed with "winning" these cases instead of letting the actual facts dictate their ruling continues to stun me. They start with the premise of guilt and will not move off it regardless of new information (that pesky ideal gas law - what kind of voodoo is this?) They've made we actively root for Elliott (who I have respect for) as I will never believe one word out of their mouths ever again. They disgust me!

 

[Simpelton]

Number one rule of Justice in an oligarchy is neither to find guilt or innocence, nor to discover the truth, but to not embarrass the boss. So of course an oligarchic system of justice is not interested in the truth. It's interested in covering up for the big boss.

A generation ago this stuff wouldn't come up because the owners would be afraid of the backlash. Sadly modern owners don't seem to rise to a level of personal integrity and professionalism as was found in such luminaries as Al Davis.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Zeke got Article 46'd and lost his appeal arbitration. It's almost like other NFL fans didn't care that Brady got suspended "because Patriots" - and now Goodell is doing it again...

To the courts, we go.

 

[ViperGTS]

Zeke got Article 46'd and lost his appeal arbitration. It's almost like other NFL fans didn't care that Brady got suspended "because Patriots" - and now Goodell is doing it again...

To the courts, we go.

Question is, why would he get a TRO when a fresh decision is on the books from the Brady case?

 

[Wheelman]

NYJFL* are geniuses! Big rating games. Dallas is a huge market. Get him to play on SNF for the ratings. And then suspend him for week 2 and on. Genius! Those scumbags are geniuses!

 

[Wheelman]

Zeke got Article 46'd and lost his appeal arbitration. It's almost like other NFL fans didn't care that Brady got suspended "because Patriots" - and now Goodell is doing it again...

To the courts, we go.

So some cowgirls fans are insistent that Brady's case and Elliots case is apples and oranges. They're saying Brady's case was about notice of punishment, and Elliot case is about fundamental unfairness? Any armchair lawyers care to weigh in?

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Question is, why would he get a TRO when a fresh decision is on the books from the Brady case?

Yeah I believe he has to show that there's irreparable harm in not getting the TRO (i.e., because he'd miss games he can't recover) and that he has a substantial likelihood of success in litigating the contest. Very hard to show the second, given the Brady case - I think you're right.

I've not paid enough attention to facts here to warrant much of a guess as to whether there's much for the court to hook onto, given Brady. The other thing I guess that helps a tiny bit is that the district court Zeke is Eastern Texas, which isn't bound to follow the 2nd Circuit's opinion in Brady. It all depends on what ED Texas finds for labor law / arbitration opinions in the 5th Circuit.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

So some cowgirls fans are insistent that Brady's case and Elliots case is apples and oranges. They're saying Brady's case was about notice of punishment, and Elliot case is about fundamental unfairness? Any armchair lawyers care to weigh in?

My armchairing - again I haven't studied the Elliot case, however it's this language from the 2nd Circuit that interprets Art. 46 to say "anything goes because they agreed to it"

Here, that authority was especially broad. The Commissioner was authorized to impose discipline for, among other things, "conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence, in the game of professional football.” In their collective bargaining agreement, the players and the League mutually decided many years ago that the Commissioner should investigate possible rule violations, should impose appropriate sanctions, and may preside at arbitrations challenging his discipline. Although this tripartite regime may appear somewhat unorthodox, it is the regime bargained for and agreed upon by the parties, which we can only presume they determined was mutually satisfactory.

So, of course, the NFL will base any player discipline, especially that which they know will draw outrage, within this broad Art 46 authority.

Even worse for Elliot is the amount of deference due to an arbitrator's decision which is the law the court must follow (the Labor Management Relations Act - LMRA). One of the ways the LMRA allows a court to overturn the arbitrator is "fundamental unfairness" which is a very high standard. For instance, Judge Berman in the NY district court didn't even go so far as to say Goodell as arbitrator was "fundamentally unfair." I vaguely recall that to reach "fundamental unfairness" requires a showing of overtly unfair conduct by the arbitrator. Here, they're saying there's a conspiracy by the NFL, which seems different than arbitrator misconduct to me, given that the NFL used a 3rd party as arbitrator.

So, I'm not sure why Cowgirls fans think they've got a better case here than Brady did, given what the 2nd Circuit says about Art 46 and what the LMRA says about basically never overturning an arbitration. But, the NFLPA has better lawyers than me on the case, and they'll work hard to differentiate this case from Brady - but it really seems like a long shot. Art 46 is costly to the players.

 

[Ring 6]

Question is, why would he get a TRO when a fresh decision is on the books from the Brady case?

Is DV under article 46 or a separate policy?

 

[Ring 6]

So some cowgirls fans are insistent that Brady's case and Elliots case is apples and oranges. They're saying Brady's case was about notice of punishment, and Elliot case is about fundamental unfairness? Any armchair lawyers care to weigh in?

There are differences. Brady case challenged that there was already established punishment for similar issues. The NFL won based upon article 46 giving goodell sole discretion in defining conduct detrimental to the game.

Here Elliot is saying they refused to consider evidence in determining he was guilty of DV.
What I am not certain of us whether the DV policy is separate or encompassed under conduct detrimental.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

I just wanted to throw in a little more language about the court challenging an arbitrator from the 2nd Circuit - for what it's worth.

...our task is simply to ensure that the arbitrator was “even arguably construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his authority” and did not “ignore the plain language of the contract.” (SCOTUS citation). Even failure to “follow arbitral precedent” is no “reason to vacate an award.” (Appeals Court citation). As long as the award “‘draws its essence from the collective bargaining agreement’ and is not merely the arbitrator’s ‘own brand of industrial justice,’” it must be confirmed.

 

[Ring 6]

Elliot will lose this appeal. At least he probably actually is guilty but at some point something will be totally made up and a player will get suspended. Oh wait, that happened last year.

 

[ViperGTS]

Is DV under article 46 or a separate policy?

Everything regarding punishment is under article 46. Period.

Edit: I saw McCann tweet out the NFLPA TRO and he said something simply to the effect "Decisions have consequences" or near that re: Brady case.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

There are differences. Brady case challenged that there was already established punishment for similar issues. The NFL won based upon article 46 giving goodell sole discretion in defining conduct detrimental to the game.

Here Elliot is saying they refused to consider evidence in determining he was guilty of DV.
What I am not certain of us whether the DV policy is separate or encompassed under conduct detrimental.

The SDNY & 2nd Circuit did decide, with respect to the lack of Pash's testimony, the issue of evidence in relation to fundamental fairness during arbitration. See page 27 if you care to (re-)read it.


Article 46's title is "Commissioner Discipline" - technically any suspension is for either on-field conduct or conduct detrimental.

All disputes involving a fine or suspension imposed upon a player for
conduct on the playing field (other than as described in Subsection (b) below) or involving action taken against a player by the Commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football, will be processed exclusively as follows:...

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Link to Schefter's Facebook with a statement from the arbitrator in this hearing:

"Here the process for imposing discipline outlined in the Policy has been followed closely, step by step. I find it unnecessary to reexamine all the evidence presented in this record because my careful and diligent review of everything the Commissioner reviewed and relied on draws me to the conclusion that the record contains sufficient credible evidence to support whatever determinations he made. He is entitled to deference on those judgments absent irregularities not present here. While the record contains inconsistencies in statements, an adjudicator makes informed judgments on the credibility of witnesses and evidence."

More language showing that Elliot's chances of winning are not rosy. The emphasis within the quote is from me.

 

[farn]

Unless the goal is WWE style entertainment (which it may very well be), the league's decision making is baffling. I'm interested to see when this BS stemming from Nature two years ago stops bothering me. I'm still blown away that the greatest and most pressing situation in the universe lead to NO sweeping testing and transparency in the wimter/cold weather games... and that people have just moved on & accepted the lies is equally troubling.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

It will drag on he might win briefly and all these lawyers on twitter will say how this was injust and that was injust and how he could win but at the end of the day we all know down the line the CBA says Goodell can do whatever he wants and he will serve 6 games.

 

[Ring 6]

Number one rule of Justice in an oligarchy is neither to find guilt or innocence, nor to discover the truth, but to not embarrass the boss. So of course an oligarchic system of justice is not interested in the truth. It's interested in covering up for the big boss.

A generation ago this stuff wouldn't come up because the owners would be afraid of the backlash. Sadly modern owners don't seem to rise to a level of personal integrity and professionalism as was found in such luminaries as Al Davis.

After the josh brown debacle there is simply no way a high profile player accused of DV would get less than 6 games. The victim could be serving time for perjury and Elliot was missing 6.

 

[obgod3]

Ok so lets face it, he did hit her...I have no doubt about that.

As others have said, I dont give a crap about the Cowboys....Jerry and Zeke are getting exactly what Brady got, except I bet Zeke did it.

Jerry could have stepped in during deflategate and helped defend his "supposed" friend Kraft but he didnt, he relished the fact Brady would be suspended, so now it is his turn, I love it!

Zeke will probably get a "stay" by the judge, but in the end the NFL will win, article 46 has been tried and the NFL won, it has set precedent. Done over finished.

I couldn't be happier it is happening to Dallas, hope Zeke drags it on so it affects the Cowboys later in the season when it is most important. Now cant e somehow go after the Colts and jets.....

But Im not bitter. LOL

 

[XLIX]

It'll never happen, but the scumbag Cowboys fans should be praising Tom Brady for everything he went through. The NFL used all their underhanded tactics against Brady - and it worked - so the NFLPA was far, far better prepared to handle the Elliott court case including, perhaps most importantly of all, getting a pre-emptive filing in a friendly district instead of waiting for the NFL's "Motion to Confirm."