![]() Both Brady and head coach Bill Belichick denied knowledge of any tampering. The DeflateGate scandal began last January when the NFL announced it was investigating the New England Patriots for deflating footballs after they beat the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7, to advance to the Super Bowl. The NFL has the option to appeal the judge's decision. With Brady's suspension now eliminated, the DeflateGate saga, which dragged on for more than six months after the AFC Championship, could possibly go away. The NFL was reportedly unwilling to agree to a reduced punishment unless Brady accepted the findings of the Wells report, which famously determined that Brady's "more probable than not" participation in the plan to deflate game balls for the AFC Championship subjected him to punishment. Judge Berman tried to get the two sides to compromise on a settlement, rather than inject the court into the inner workings of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players. Get all kinds of NFL stories, rumors, game coverage, and inane comments from the NFL media in your inbox every day. In both the Ray Rice case and the Adrian Peterson case, the players could, perhaps, be said to appreciate that acts of domestic violence might be deemed "conduct detrimental." And yet, in both of these cases, the players were disciplined only after findings were made under the specific domestic violence policy. Goodell's reliance on notice of broad CBA "conduct detrimental" policy- as opposed to specific Player Policies regarding equipment violations- to impose discipline upon Brady is legally misplaced. The league's use of the "conduct detrimental" standard for punishing players also came under scrutiny from Judge Berman because there was no specific finding of such conduct in the NFL's investigation as there had been in two prior instances. And, it does not appear that the NFL has ever, prior to this case, sought to punish players for such an alleged violation. The Court concludes that, as a matter of law, no NFL policy or precedent notifies players that they may be disciplined (much less suspended) for general awareness of misconduct by others. ![]() ![]() ![]() With respect to "general awareness" of others' misconduct - which is the principal finding in both the Wells Report and the Vincent Letter - Brady had no notice that such conduct was prohibited, or any reasonable certainty of potential discipline stemming from such conduct. Brady also had no notice that his discipline would be the equivalent of the discipline imposed upon a player who used performance enhancing drugs.Īs for what the NFL called Brady's "general awareness" of any misconduct, Judge Berman took aim at that as well. The Court finds that Brady had no notice that he could receive a four-game suspension for general awareness of ball deflation by others or participation in any scheme to deflate footballs, and non-cooperation with the ensuing Investigation. The NFLPA argued that Goodell overstepped his authority in suspending Brady on that basis, since the league had no precedent for doing that.ĭuring the Augoral argument, it became apparent that no specific determination was made either in the Vincent's Disciplinary Decision Letter or the Goodell Award as to what portion of Brady's discipline was attributable to alleged ball tampering and what discipline was attributable to non-cooperation (and, for that matter, what discipline was attributable to the destruction of Brady's phone). He refused to turn over his cell phone, but Brady's attorneys did reveal that they provided records and offered to track down any communications pertaining to the matter. Instead, the league's punishment hinged in part on what the NFL perceived as Brady's unwillingness to cooperate in the investigation. The union also argued that the NFL's four-game suspension for Brady was inconsistent with previous punishments for tampering with equipment. One thing that the judge took issue with was the fact that the NFL refused to let the league's chief attorney, Jeff Pash, testify at Brady's appeal, something Judge Richard Berman seemed to take issue with over the course of the hearing this month. The union had planned to call Goodell as a witness in the initial appeal, but was denied that opportunity when Goodell appointed himself as the appeal officer. The case argued by Brady and the NFLPA centered on the argument that it was unfair because NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appointed himself to hear Brady's appeal under the league's personal conduct policy. Tom Brady's four-game suspension from the NFL for his role in DeflateGate has been nullified by a federal judge.
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