So they didn't pursue the case because of money, and not lack of credible evidence?
If that big dent in his head wasn't a sure sign of CTE, I don't know what is...
Judge rejects NFL’s position on “fundamental fairness” in arbitrations
Posted by Mike Florio on October 17, 2017, 8:57 PM EDT
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The biggest news from the four-page order entered on Tuesday by Judge Paul A. Crotty comes from, obviously, the notion that Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott will be able to practice and play for up to 14 days pending further proceedings. Potentially far more important to the case filed by the NFL in a New York federal court was Judge Crotty’s assessment of the threshold position about legal challenges to player suspensions imposed by the league office.
Put simply, Judge Crotty doesn’t agree that the ultimate outcome of the Tom Brady case gives the NFL as much power as the NFL thinks it secured through the Tom Brady case.
Judge Crotty writes that the NFL “maintains that the issue of fundamental fairness is irrelevant” in Elliott’s case “because ‘there is no such thing as fundamental fairness review under the Labor Management Relations Act,'” and that the NFL “contends that the Second Circuit determined [in the Brady case] that fundamental fairness was not the appropriate standard for reviewing an arbitral order.” The NFL instead, as Judge Crotty points out, “asserts that the only relevant ‘issue is whether the Arbitrator even arguably construed or applied the contract,'” and contends that the Brady ruling “forecloses judicial review of arbitral decisionfor fundamental fairness.”
Says Judge Crotty, point blank: “That is quite wrong.”
He adds that the Brady case “did not hold that courts cannot review arbitral decisions for fundamental fairness,” and that the Brady ruling “did not decide that issue.”
This is significant, for two reasons. First, it underscores the fact that the question of whether an NFL player is entitled to “fundamental fairness” in an internal arbitration proceeding has not been resolved by the Second Court, the appeals court with jurisdiction over New York federal litigation. Second, Judge Crotty becomes the first judge in the Elliott case to deviate from the party lines of the president who nominated him.
It means that Elliott has an opening to prevail not only as to an injunction that would let him play for the rest of the year, but also as to an eventual ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on whether he is entitled to, and whether he received, a fundamentally fair hearing.
In English, Elliott actually has a chance to defeat the suspension.
If he gets hurt, my guess is he could pull his appeal, sit out his suspension injured and give Goodell the one finger salute.
Got a winner here.
I'd think the league would have to suspend him immediately if he withdrew his appeal. Now thatcwoukd mean his suspended without pay. If its a 8 week injury the team would be a roster spot short for the last two weeks.
