Johnw1104 said:
mornelithe said:
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.
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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.
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I read basically everything on this (admittedly, I am a Pats fan, so I had a vested interest), the Wells Report, the Wells Report in Context (from the Pats), the AEI report and their statistical analysis, the appeal transcript, and everything released from this court case. So, the misteps were pointed out by a few pretty exceptional legal analysts (Stephanie Stradley, and Michael McCann), plus, Berman himself indicated that just withholding Jeffrey Pash from questioning during Brady's appeal, was grounds to overturn the arbitration (You must be allowed to question your accuser in ANY court case).
There's a great deal of conspiracy theory we could go on here, but, I think Goodell relied on his legal counsel (Pash) a bit to much in this, and didn't actually realize he was stomping on the CBA and Federal Labor Law in the process.
kitler53 said:
fuck that guy. |
I'm sure Gisele will be tonight :)
