NFLPA/Brady reply brief to NFL/Goodell deflategate appeal

[DarrylS]

The dear and glorious leader, Goodell, have not money for full time refs, instead preferring to spend the owners money on idiotic law suits..

Given the opportunity to do a season long study on the effect of game conditions and climate on inflated footballs, the NFL chose not to.. instead "randomly" checking balls, without recording data..

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid..

 

[TommyD4207]

Lester Munson said this was a poorly-written, shoddy document - with no chance of winning against the NFL's filing of legal brilliance.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

thanks for posting. i downloaded it, but i don't think i'll be reading the text itself until the judges are named and the date draws near.

i was, however, curious as to the names of the lawyers filing the brief and i noticed that the head of Winston & Strawn's National Appellate Practice, Steffen Johnson, is now named in the primary position on the first page of the filing.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

McCann's article:

Brady's team files new brief in Deflategate case

 

[RobertWeathers]

If folks have read/watched the Frontline report, "League of Denial" its easy to see how fierce and diobolical the league is in protecting its brand, perceived credibility and financial interests.

It's great to see someone standing up to these sinister, disgusting people

 

[goheels22002]

The NFL's appeal of Judge Berman's ruling is the act most detrimental to the integrity of the game in the history of the league.

The appellate attorneys who crafted the NFLPA document did a great job of articulating the Commissioner's power grab. I wonder if Goodell grasps just how out of line he is and how far his attorneys have gone to make him look like a tyrant with no regard for the rules of the enterprise that he is so obscenely paid to operate.

I don't see where Judge Berman gets overruled in this appeal, but then I don't know the technicalities that an Appeals Court will focus on in their deliberations.

The only thing might be the destroyed cell phone issue if there was evidence that was not available to the NFL that somehow the NFLPA had access to, of which there is no proof. Also,whatever is on the phones of the equipment guys would contain all of Brady's communications. And nowhere does the CBA say that the NFL has the right to the contents on employees' cell phones. Basic stuff.

The NFL relies upon its argument that Berman overstepped his authority by overturning the arbitrator's ruling. It seems that the fundamental mistake the NFL could have possibly made was having Goodell serve as arbitrator because he was not impartial, and he's not even a lawyer. Wouldn't you want an attorney versed in labor law to serve as your in-house arbitrator in any situation where there is even a hint that collectively bargained activities of players are involved?

Every other major sports league (NHL, NBA, MLB) has a Commissioner who is a well-trained and respected officer of the court. Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis set the standard in MLB with the Black Sox scandal that was a huge injustice to certain players where there was no proof they were involved in throwing the World Series (Shoeless Joe Jackson.)

The NFL should fire Goodell and hire Jeffrey Kessler to serve as Commissioner.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Lester Munson said this was a poorly-written, shoddy document - with no chance of winning against the NFL's filing of legal brilliance.

Gets an espy for the idiot of the year. Hilarious garbage from day 1 from this guy.
How can anyone take him serious when he is wrong at every turn? Bought and paid for by Espn and the NFL that's for sure. Obviously.

So the NFL is getting ready to extend their offseason relevance again right after the Super Bowl? Check. The NBA and MLB should be throwing money at judges for this to end as quickly as possible.

 

[TommyD4207]

The only thing might be the destroyed cell phone issue if there was evidence that was not available to the NFL that somehow the NFLPA had access to, of which there is no proof. Also,whatever is on the phones of the equipment guys would contain all of Brady's communications. And nowhere does the CBA say that the NFL has the right to the contents on employees' cell phones. Basic stuff.

This is completely irrelevant to the appeal.

 

[Froob]

I think this whole thing might be Roger getting Brady on punk'd real bad and he'll admit to it right as he's filing for defamation. "Did you see the look on your face Tom? Classic! I've been working with Kessel this whole time!"

 

[DaBruinz]

As I read through the brief, I just noticed that Kessler actually added another reason why the Commissioner's "Award" needed to be over-turned. Brady was originally penalized without the benefit of a hearing. The only hearing he had was the "appeal" hearing.

This document hits the essence of what my 1st boss told me when it comes to writing a business document. You tell them what you're going to tell them. You tell them. You tell them what you told them. It really hammers it home.

 

[DaBruinz]

The NFL should fire Goodell and hire Jeffrey Kessler to serve as Commissioner.

From a legal standpoint, I think this would be considered a conflict of interest..

They DO, however, need to bring in someone with a legal background who has knowledge of football but has never been associated with the Jets, Giants, Steelers, Raiders, Cowboys, or Patriots..

 

[Jlaff]

Way to go all expressio unius Kessler!

 

[patfanken]

Brady attorneys decimate nfl deflategate appeal.

McGovern: Brady attorneys decimate NFL’s appeal in Deflategate

You know I love Kessler as much as the next guy, and in this Herald article they call him a "superstar". However the major points in this case that we all know so well by this point are pretty conclusive.

The fact is they are SO conclusive, even on the technical labor law level, that most of us could have written a cogent rational brief that would be able to "decimate the NFL deflategate appeal". This issue has been clear for months and it is really a shame that some much time and money is being WASTED on adjudicating such a one sided case as this one is.

The defamation suit will turn out to be equally one sided since at that point the lawyers can directly attack the NFL's flawed assertion that something punishable happened in the first place. Besides the only thing we do know for an unmitigated fact was the NFL purposely withheld exculpatory evidence, lied,. and maliciously misrepresented facts throughout this saga. And that doesn't even start to get into any of BSPN's maleficence

 

[XLIX]

Lester Munson said this was a poorly-written, shoddy document - with no chance of winning against the NFL's filing of legal brilliance.

He also said yesterday that Steve Sarkisian has a pretty easy win over USC in his wrongful termination lawsuit because alcoholism is legally recognized as a disease under the ADA and may not be grounds for termination., and that USC would do everything they could to settle.

Like Lester Munson, I am not a lawyer..... but unlike him, I know that while you cannot fire someone for being an alcoholic, you can fire them for drinking on the job and being drunk on the job.

 

[reflexblue]

I hear the whiny fans of other teams yelling about how Brady is supposedly clinging to technicalities.

Will they ever grasp that the court case is a labor dispute?

Brady simply cannot argue for upholding the ruling based upon his factual innocence, because this is a dispute over labor law. Thus he is emphasizing Goodell’s decision to trample his collectively-bargained rights.

Brady is not admitting to what we all know, by now, that he did not do. He is merely saying that even if you believed the NFL’s shoddy misrepresentation of the facts of the case, the punishment is fundamentally unfair, illegal, and wholly without precedent.

Those fans you speak of don't want to beleive it because they've have to accept that their team really lost fairly, that their team just wasn't as good as they believed.

 

[goheels22002]

Lester Munson said this was a poorly-written, shoddy document - with no chance of winning against the NFL's filing of legal brilliance.

http://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=856975936

Munson's been disciplined and not practiced in 20+ years.

He also said yesterday that Steve Sarkisian has a pretty easy win over USC in his wrongful termination lawsuit because alcoholism is legally recognized as a disease under the ADA and may not be grounds for termination., and that USC would do everything they could to settle.

Like Lester Munson, I am not a lawyer..... but unlike him, I know that while you cannot fire someone for being an alcoholic, you can fire them for drinking on the job and being drunk on the job.

Munson is an attorney licensed in the state of Illinois. He's been disciplined twice: http://www.iardc.org/ldetail.asp?id=517239008

Nevertheless...

Q: What happens when you give Lester Munson Viagra?
A: He gets taller.

 

[Sciz]

From a legal standpoint, I think this would be considered a conflict of interest..

They DO, however, need to bring in someone with a legal background who has knowledge of football but has never been associated with the Jets, Giants, Steelers, Raiders, Cowboys, or Patriots..

Exactly. I know nothing about Mark Murphy other than his education and work experience, but it doesn't make any sense to have a continually promoted intern as commissioner while the former player with a law degree, MBA, and experience as a trial attorney and NFLPA assistance executive director is running the Packers. I'm sure there are plenty of other more highly qualified candidates already in the NFL. It doesn't take much.

 

[memento]

Didn't NFL Vice President Troy Vincent serve as NFLPA President in 2004-2008?

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Was there much doubt this was going to go Brady's way 10 minutes after Berman's ruling? Correct me if I'm wrong but the appeal judges will have to reverse quite a lot of items to reverse the Berman decision. What are the chances of that?

I think the bigger question is, will the NFL(ESPN) pull out any more dirty 'integrity' tricks to defame Brady in lieu of a case where they are actually right?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Didn't NFL Vice President Troy Vincent serve as NFLPA President in 2004-2008?

yes.