Tom Brady is clear, Suspension is lifted

[Johnw1104]

mornelithe said:

Johnw1104 said:
I'm still confused about how the courts got involved, thought the Commissioner had more authority.

Still wouldn't bet on the Pats though... It's very hard to repeat and they went nearly a decade between wins, with the last one being perhaps the luckiest super bowl win in history.

That said, probably right near the top... I just never bet on a repeat lol, it's so difficult to win in the NFL.

Basically in CBA cases, the Courts are very very limited on what they can judge on.  In this case, the NFL had a littany of procedural errors in their process, which is literally the only avenue that Judge's can rule on.  When Berman started going into the details/evidence of the case in the first hearing, it wasn't really relevant to how he'd rule, because even if the evidence is erroneous, via precedent, Judge's still cannot vacate an arbitration award.  However, if their are procedural errors that conflict with the CBA (and in this case Federal Labor Law), the Judge has the authority to vacate.

The failure to notice (Brady that not handing over his phone) would result in suspension, no one ever being suspended for this before, attempting to apply a Team penalty to a player, not allowing Jeffrey Pash to testify in Brady's hearing (As Berman noted in the 2nd hearing, this alone was enough to overturn arbitration awards), not allowing Brady/NFLPA access to the Wells' team notes, among other things.  The NFL really screwed this up, badly.  It should never have made it to the courts to begin with (and everyone remember, the NFL preemptively filed this in NY, simultaneously with Goodell's upholding the initial penalty).

The CBA/Article 46 allows for a great deal of power under the commissioner, the problem is in the process of applying that power, they actually have to adhere to procedural rules outlined by the CBA and Federal Labor Law (Law of the Shop).  At every turn, the NFL fucked itself.  Frankly, Berman didn't have much choice.  If he ruled for the NFL, not only would the power Goodell wield be obscene (they could basically charge anyone, with anything, whether it's an NFL rule or not, and suspend them indefinitely without evidence), but the precedent would also effect all other CBA's which would be disastrous to due process.

I didn't realize how many times they'd failed to adhere to the collective bargaining agreement though, admittedly, I didn't follow it too closely.

It's strange that they'd take such an aggressive, haphazard approach in going after the league's biggest player and most consistent franchise over the last decade and a half. Seems like amateur hour stuff you'd not expect from a group who, I imagine, must have access to some truly competent lawyers to guide them.