Missouri Supreme Court invalidates Commissioner as arbitrator, can ruling on Hardy be overturned now

[Longboysfan]

Section 8.1 requires the NFL to “select and employ a person of unquestioned integrity to serve as Commissioner of the League and shall determine the period and fix the compensation of his employment.” Then, the Court pointed out that Section 8.2 states that the “Commissioner shall have no financial interest, direct or indirect, in any professional sport.”


First Section 8.1 points out that the Commissioner has to be of unquestioned integrity. Goddell's integrity is questionable and I doubt that he has any integrity at all.

Secondly, Section 8.2 points out that the Commissioner shall have no financial interest direct or indirect. Well, he is good friends with Mara and Kraft and seems to dictate some of decisions beneficial to their franchises. Hardy's verdict was extremely biased. By appointing a woman who has ties to Mara shows that the Commissioner is breaking Section 8.1 and 8.2 of the laws specified here.

Score on both comments.
He would have set a president if he had truly found a netural person to rule on this.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

I predicted this 5 years ago: "In 2015, the year of our board, we will be hoping and relying on fine points of the law and arbitration to rationalize taking on scum onto our heavenly team, the Cowboys. Conspiracy theories will abound (Mara/Kraft/Goodell/ESPN) and the earth will be scorched by countless and mind-numbing incidents by man childs doing wrong and then wanting to wear the star."
but then the meds wore off and I re-tarded to my usual self and stuff.

 

[khiladi]

I predicted this 5 years ago: "In 2015, the year of our board, we will be hoping and relying on fine points of the law and arbitration to rationalize taking on scum onto our heavenly team, the Cowboys. Conspiracy theories will abound (Mara/Kraft/Goodell/ESPN) and the earth will be scorched by countless and mind-numbing incidents by man childs doing wrong and then wanting to wear the star."
but then the meds wore off and I re-tarded to my usual self and stuff.

 

[MagicMan]

legally, yes.
suspended with pay is still suspension.

the effect is courts generally respect each others' ruling.
this is likely to be accepted by most states now that it is written.
the NFL likely makes changes based upon this rule.

hardy was always likely to draw a reduced sentence. in fact it is very likely the commissioner chose 10 games expecting to see him serve 6.

if hardy can't avoid nonsense like the irreverent 9/11 reference a reduced suspension won't matter.

Exactly, no different than a cop being suspended with pay during an investigation. It is still a suspension.... Except dealing with millions of $$$$$.

And lawyers look for prior rulings from other jurisdictions all the time to make or substantiate their case as well. So it can affect other states. Unfortunately, the legal system is slow in its advancement and it does take years--------we are talking about lawyers here, who work and charge by the hour. Hardy would be 32 years old by the time he "wins" his case. He should just accept it, and if he can bring it down to 4 games------consider it a win.

 

[big dog cowboy]

#UnleashTheKraken!

Sooner rather than later please.

 

[GimmeTheBall!]

Oh, get a sense of hummus.

 

[Nightman]

The NFLPA already asked for a neutral arbitrator.

The only way this would have had bearing is if he was still going to be arbitrator in the first place, which I don't think he was.

A few things I would argue in favor of Hardy

A) He was already suspended last year. I'm not certain, but I think he was suspended with pay, and if that is the case, I think to suggest an additional suspension wouldn't be in the bounds of the previous rules. Maybe a fine but no way you can make him miss more games after missing 15 last year.

A neutral arbitrator will recognize that you can punish a player with new rules and the fact that he already lost 15 games (even if he was paid) would simply mean that you should be able to fine him.

The only difference is that I think the Panthers suspended him and not the NFL.

The League already ruled that time on the Commissioner's Exempt list WAS NOT a suspension and did not count as time served. Even though NFL VP told Peterson it would. I don't think Judge Doty ruled on that part of Peterson's case.

 

[MagicMan]

The League already ruled that time on the Commissioner's Exempt list WAS NOT a suspension and did not count as time served. Even though NFL VP told Peterson it would. I don't think Judge Doty ruled on that part of Peterson's case.

Good luck with that, just cuz its called the COMMISSIONER'S EXEMPT LIST does not change the definition. No where does it mention with or without pay, interesting. This is a no brainer for Judge Doty. I would side with the NFL VP who seemed to have it right as well as Mr. Webster here:


suspension
noun sus·pen·sion \sə-ˈspen(t)-shən\
: the act of forcing someone to leave a job, position, or place for a usually short period of time as a form of punishment : the act of suspending someone

 

[burmafrd]

Doty will certainly rule that Hardy was suspended. And he has already ruled that you cannot use new rules put in place after an incident to punish a player.

Under the old rules the most he can get is 2 games.

 

[Nightman]

Doty will certainly rule that Hardy was suspended. And he has already ruled that you cannot use new rules put in place after an incident to punish a player.

Under the old rules the most he can get is 2 games.

I've learned to never try to guess how a judge, jury or arbitrator will rule

 

[BrassCowboy]

I know it will take a long time for this to infiltrate all of the NFL and that precedence won't make a difference for Hardy, but I would think Judge Doty would hear of this ruling by NFLPA or someone else. I would think he would have this in mind when he makes his decision.

 

[bb721]

Good luck with that, just cuz its called the COMMISSIONER'S EXEMPT LIST does not change the definition. No where does it mention with or without pay, interesting. This is a no brainer for Judge Doty. I would side with the NFL VP who seemed to have it right as well as Mr. Webster here:


suspension
noun sus·pen·sion \sə-ˈspen(t)-shən\
: the act of forcing someone to leave a job, position, or place for a usually short period of time as a form of punishment : the act of suspending someone

The one major issue you are missing is that getting placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List is something that has to be MUTUALLY AGREED UPON, meaning that Hardy had to agree and sign off on it, or as the NFL Players Association refers to it, it was "a voluntary leave with pay". He can't then turn around and say that it was a form of punishment, which is what a suspension is.

 

[Nightman]

The one major issue you are missing is that getting placed on the Commissioner's Exempt List is something that has to be MUTUALLY AGREED UPON, meaning that Hardy had to agree and sign off on it, or as the NFL Players Association refers to it, it was "a voluntary leave with pay". He can't then turn around and say that it was a form of punishment, which is what a suspension is.

They even covered this with the Peterson case.

Peterson said he was told by Troy Vincent the NFL Exec. VP that time on the Commissioner's List would count as time served for any suspension.

The League said Vincent was wrong, it didn't count as punishment and Peterson had to miss 6 more unpaid weeks at least.

They aren't budging on this and they are appealing Judge Doty's ruling. That hearing and decision may not come before October.

If Hardy gets caught up in all the delays and misses games the League doesn't care.

 

[Galian Beast]

Doty will certainly rule that Hardy was suspended. And he has already ruled that you cannot use new rules put in place after an incident to punish a player.

Under the old rules the most he can get is 2 games.

That's not quite the case, though perhaps in previous casing the ruling was not appealed.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

NFL is headed for a woodshed moment on this issue IMO. They are going to get their arses waxed.

 

[Wolf2k5]

NFL is headed for a woodshed moment on this issue IMO. They are going to get their arses waxed.

Let's hope so. Rather it be sooner than later. Can't imagine having nothing but legal threads all offseason

 

[jrumann59]

The questions is what was the premise for Hardy going on the exempt list, was it, "hey get this sorted out, you get paid you get found not guilty come off and we treat it like an injury." or was it, "get on the list or be suspended pending court case outcome."

 

[casmith07]

Joe -

Whether this has any effect on the Greg Hardy ruling remains to be seen. However, as an attorney it is my firm belief that a layperson like Goodell should never be allowed to be an arbitrator anyway. Someone with formal legal training and then further training or certification in arbitration should be the only individual allowed to act as an arbitrator, particularly in these kinds of scenarios.

 

[Beast_from_East]

The main thing this will affect is the next collective bargaining agreement.

 

[casmith07]

I don't know if you can call getting paid your full check without playing punishment. But we'll see.

Just a point of legality, why would the Missouri Supreme Court case have any bearing on the Cowboys or the legal? I can see in the case of the Rams who operate out of the state of Missouri. But the Missouri Supreme Court isn't a federal court. So how would this ruling influence the Hardy case?

For our resident lawyers.

Technically you can't call any of it punishment. Punishment is reserved solely for judicial proceedings. The suspensions handed out by the NFL should only be referred to as administrative action of some sort - administrative leave, administrative suspension, etc.

The Mo. S.Ct. case is not binding case law re: the Cowboys, but courts oftentimes consider case law brought up by attorneys on oral argument when used for their persuasive value.

People often overlook persuasive sources for their arguments. They can be very effective, especially since Judges hate being overturned.