Seriously? - Court to hear old fan lawsuit over "Spygate"

[JSn]

Today's update: Law.com - 3rd Circuit May Revive $184 Million Class Action Over NFL Team Taping Rival's Signals

Well, that's... not great.

 

[mosslost]

I can't believe this.

 

[Metaphors]

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. The point in question (that the Pats stole signals and used them to gain an advantage) is not illegal in the NFL. If the ticket is a contract, then fans accept the rules of the game as part of the contract. So it is illogical to claim damage based on activity that isn't against the rules. If they claim that the cameras on the sidelines (against the rules) caused them damages, they have a case. If I can argue this, then the NFL lawyers can too. Getting the case reinstated just gives the league lawyers something to do.

Now violating the salary cap or tampering with free agents? That is against the rules and changes the competitive balance of the teams in question. Slope gets a little slippery, doesn't it?

 

[BPF]

Well, that's... not great.

When this whole bogus situation wen't down my feeling was that Goddell's public and severe punishment would be risky for the league. He'll be sweating out this situation for the next two months till the appeals court issues it's decision. He made the issue bigger than it needed to be and it continued to live on for months and months. Stealing signs has been going on for as long as the league has been around, the only difference was that this time newer technology was invloved. He should have minimized the fall out like Tagliabue did with the Broncos and 49ers.

DAVIS WAS REFERRING TO BRONCOS' CAP VIOLATIONS | ProFootballTalk.com

PRO FOOBALL - NOTEBOOK - PRO FOOBALL - NOTEBOOK - The 49ers' Salary Cap Under N.F.L. Inquiry - NYTimes.com

Now, this matter might not only affect the Pats and the NFL but other leagues as well. I don't think the district court decision will be overturned but the fact that this situation exists is clearly his doing. This is why in this day and age lawyers like Tags need to be commissioners. The NBA is next with it's ref scandal.

 

[jmt57]

Cowen especially seemed swayed by the plaintiffs' arguments, telling the defense lawyers that he considered the games to be rigged when the Patriots "knew every signal and [were] able to foretell every play that was going to be called."

Memo to Judge Cowen: if that was true, wouldn't the Patriots have won every game they played in for those seven straight years?

 

[BPF]

Cowen especially seemed swayed by the plaintiffs' arguments, telling the defense lawyers that he considered the games to be rigged when the Patriots "knew every signal and [were] able to foretell every play that was going to be called."

Memo to Judge Cowen: if that was true, wouldn't the Patriots have won every game they played in for those seven straight years?

Eaxctly the NFL lawyer's point:

Goldfein replied that the taping did not have an impact on the 2007 game, and that it was not a criminal act but a violation of "an internal rule."

"It's not rigged," he said. "There is no certainty of outcome."

Extra long appeals hearing in Patriots ticket-holder suit | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/15/2010

 

[BPF]

FanFeedr | NFL | 14 Apr 10 | Photo of Carl Mayer, Bruce Afran

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...surrects_Jets_fans_suit_against_Patriots.html

The lawsuit was widely derided and ridiculed when it was filed in 2007. A U.S. District Court judge in Trenton, New Jersey, tossed it out without a hearing. But the case is still alive because of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which hears New Jersey cases. The higher court not only agreed to decide whether the potential class action case can go to trial, but selected it to be one of the relatively few cases to get an oral argument before a three-judge panel.

While the NFL fined Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000, Mayer wants ticket holders to get a triple refund for all eight games played between the Patriots and the Jets in Giants stadium from 2000 through 2007.

The Pats and the NFL, through their attorneys, have begged the court to toss the case. Their opinion?

"Frivolous." "Mockery of the judicial process." "The NFL respectfully submits that allowing this case to continue any longer would only waste more time, money and judicial resources," the lawyers said in court filings.

Even when Mayer and colleague Bruce Afran, both Princeton attorneys, twice missed filing deadlines - technically a reason to toss the case - the appeals court rejected pleas for a dismissal.

 

[Joker]

what do you call 5000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?

 

[BPF]

what do you call 5000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea?

A good start, but there's too many of them out there we may need to start w/more.

 

[Buchanty]

FanFeedr | NFL | 14 Apr 10 | Photo of Carl Mayer, Bruce Afran

LOL - love the inaccuracy of the caption "secret videotaping of signals" I didn't realize that the camera was hidden in the mascot or Wilfork's waistband.

15 minutes of fame.... next

 

[SHOWTIME15]

LOL i suppose this is better than what the steelers are going through right now.

 

[BSR]

I think you all are looking at this the wrong way. Did you read what the NFL is being forced to fess up to?

But Goldfein said everyone knows that NFL rules allow for teams to study the signals of opponents, and that the Patriots violated the rule by videotaping from the sidelines. But Goldfein also said the rule was subject to interpretation and that Belichick thought he was staying within the rule by simply not using the videotapes on the same day they were made.

Goldfein said rules infractions are "part of the game," and that a ticket is no guarantee that a fan will watch a game free of rules infractions

The way this is going, we'll soon have Goodell on the stand having to explain that videtaping signals is only beneficial to film study!

 

[JSn]

The only way out of this may be for the court to rule that Patriots weren't out of order and return that draft pick...

 

[BPF]

I think you all are looking at this the wrong way. Did you read what the NFL is being forced to fess up to?



The way this is going, we'll soon have Goodell on the stand having to explain that videtaping signals is only beneficial to film study!

That was my first thought. This is comical, maybe it's best for BB and Pats for this to actually go to court so other coaches and NFL execs will have to admit that they to did exactly the same thing.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

That was my first thought. This is comical, maybe it's best for BB and Pats for this to actually go to court so other coaches and NFL execs will have to admit that they to did exactly the same thing.

One other thing: if the JEST knew the Patriots were violating the rules, but didn't turn the Patriots in, wouldn't that make them complicit in the "crime"?

 

[Deus Irae]

I think you all are looking at this the wrong way. Did you read what the NFL is being forced to fess up to?



The way this is going, we'll soon have Goodell on the stand having to explain that videtaping signals is only beneficial to film study!

Link, please....

 

[jmt57]

LOL i suppose this is better than what the steelers are going through right now.

I'm finding it incredibly ironic what Steelers fans are going through right now. Of all fanbases I felt as a whole they were most self righteous finger pointers during spygate, from jumping on every daily speculation as fact to pumping out Bernard Pollard fan-club t-shirts while screaming about karma.

Now the shoe is on the other foot, and on every national site they are the first to defend Holmes and Roethlisberger while scolding other fans for jumping to conclusions.

I was never a big believer in karma, but for Steeler fans perhaps what goes around does indeed come around and bite you in the ass.

 

[Koma]

I think you all are looking at this the wrong way. Did you read what the NFL is being forced to fess up to?



The way this is going, we'll soon have Goodell on the stand having to explain that videtaping signals is only beneficial to film study!

Nice find. I really think this story should just go away, but a small part of me wants this to continue because of things like you quoted there. The more the league has to explain about this, the better it's going to look for the Patriots.

Maybe they can introduce the Walsh testimony about how the Jets were filming the Patriots signals. Or mention how cameramen for the Jets were removed from Gillette during the '06 season. Those facts would disprove that filming signals is the guaranteed secret to success, because it wasn't helping the NYJ.

 

[BSR]

Link, please....

To what? It was in the law.com article someone posted earlier.

 

[BelichickFan]

This is the part I like :

"U.S. Circuit Judge D. Michael Fisher said the $500,000 fine imposed by the NFL showed that the violation was "egregious," and asked: "Why shouldn't ticket holders have some recourse?" "

Not that I want these schmucks to win but it's a statement about how much Goodell blew it, it was a minor infraction and ticket holders should have no recourse and, yet, Goodell placed the enormous fines both in money and the very valued draft pick. You set yourself up for this, Roger, by making a huge big deal out of what should have been little. Congratulations.