The 40-page ruling is out, and it’s clear that the win for Tom Brady was a slam dunk. Or maybe a ball-deflating Gronk spike.
Judge Richard M. Berman delivered a near-total victory for Brady and the NFL Players Association, finding that the NFL can’t suspend Brady for knowledge of a deflation scheme because Brady was not placed on proper notice of the possibility of a suspension for such conduct. Judge Berman also adopted the observation from former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in the Saints bounty scandal regarding the fact that the NFL has never before suspended a player for obstructing an NFL investigation.
So basically Brady can be fined at most for the two infractions, but he cannot be suspended.
It’s a complete and total win for Brady and the NFLPA (with one exception noted below). Judge Berman also found that Commissioner Roger Goodell should have allowed the NFLPA to call general counsel Jeff Pash to testify at the appeal hearing, and that Goodell should have given the NFLPA equal access to the files generated by “independent” investigator Ted Wells.
The only good news for the NFL is that Judge Berman stopped short of addressing the question of whether Goodell was “evidently partial” in the appeal process or whether Goodell improperly delegated his initial authority to punish Brady to executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent.
The NFL has the right to appeal the decision. We’ll have more on how that process works in a later post. For now, I have to go make sure PFT Commenter isn’t taking any liberties with my farm animals.