re: Could the house of cards be falling?

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One of you fellas mind copying the contents of the article here? Web filter blocked that site.

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Judge Helen G. Berrigan issued an order today in the bounty cases. Though it contained no ruling, it hinted at a decision she may be thinking about making, specifically as to Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma’s defamation claim against Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Judge Berrigan has ordered the parties to identify by Friday at noon the date on which the NFLPA allegedly asked the NFL to defer disciplining players on March 21, the same day he disciplined the coaches and other non-players in the bounty case.

“The Court is aware that Goodell stated, during the March 21, 2012 interview with the NFL Network and ESPN, that he would have disciplined the players at the same time as the coaches but for the NFLPA’s indication that they ‘wanted some time to investigate [the allegations] and talk to its own players,’” Judge Berrigan writes in the order, a copy of which was obtained by PFT. “The Court is asking for the specific date on which this request occurred. If the date is already in the record, the parties may simply cite to the relevant document in the record; if it is not, then the parties shall submit the relevant evidence.”

Judge Berrigan apparently is trying to confirm — or debunk — the NFL’s claim that the decision to suspend the players already had been made at the time the league imposed discipline on the non-players. If the NFL hadn’t made the decision to suspend the players on or before March 21, then the statements made on March 21 by Goodell regarding Vilma could be viewed as unnecessary to the disciplinary process and thus not within the confines of Goodell’s job duties and, most importantly, completely beyond the scope of the labor agreement’s arbitration procedures.

In English, if Goodell actually hadn’t made the decision as to the players on March 21, Vilma’s defamation lawsuit can proceed in court.

At the August 10 hearing before Judge Berrigan, NFL outside counsel Gregg Levy reiterated the position that the decision was made as of March 21, but that the league waited at the union’s request. “[T]he Commissioner was prepared to issue his suspension decision with regard to the players at the same time that he disciplined the franchise and the coaches. But he held off doing that. He held off doing that because he was asked to do that by the Union, which represented to him that it was conducting its own investigation and no investigation ensued,” Levy said.

Judge Berrigan seems to be calling B.S., in not-so-subtle fashion. And it’ll be interesting to see what the parties submit on Friday in response to her order.

If, in the end, the NFL can’t substantiate the contention that the NFLPA asked for the discipline to be delayed beyond March 21, the impact could extend beyond Vilma’s defamation claim. Judge Berrigan will have caught the league with its fingers in the cookie jar of fabrication, which will influence to some extent the manner in which she views any other factual claims made by the league.

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NFL'S SUBMISSION PURSUANT TO THE COURT'S ORDER OF AUGUST 15, 2012

By Order dated August 15, 2012 (Doc. No. 112), the Court directed the parties "to identify the date on which the NFLPA requested that Mr. Goodell defer issuing discipline notices to the players rather than issuing them at the same time that he disciplined the coaches" and, if that date was not already in the record, for the Parties "to submit the relevant evidence." (Id.) In response to this Order, the NFL respectfully submits the following:

1. By letter dated March 7, 2012 from Richard Berthelsen, then-General Counsel of the NFLPA, to Jeffrey Pash, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the NFL, the NFLPA requested that the Commissioner agree to defer, "for a period of at least sixty days," disciplinary proceedings "against any of the individuals involved" in the Saints' pay-for-performance bounty program to afford the NFLPA an opportunity to conduct its own "comprehensive review" of the circumstances. (Declaration of Adolpho Birch, Ex. LL (submitted herewith).)

2. By letter dated March 14, 2012, Mr. Pash responded, stating that after careful review, the League had concluded that "there is no basis for delaying the imposition of any discipline in this matter, and particularly not as it may apply to a club or any non-player employee of a club" (emphasis added). (Birch Decl., Ex. MM.)

3. Commissioner Goodell had intended to discipline the Saints players who were involved in the pay-for-performance/bounty program at the same time that he disciplined the Saints franchise and its non-player employees. However, in light of the NFLPA's request, in telephone conversations with DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the NFLPA, occurring sometime between March 14, 2012, the date of the letter referred to in Paragraph 2, and March 21, 2012, the Commissioner agreed to address first discipline of the club and non-player employees and to afford the NFLPA a reasonable opportunity to conduct its own investigation and express its views before he imposed discipline on the players. (Declaration of Roger Goodell, (submitted herewith).)

4. After no additional information was received from the NFLPA (other than the Declaration of Mr. Hargrove (Ex. W)), notice letters to the players were sent on May 2, eight weeks after the NFLPA's request for a 60-day deferral.

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I doubt that's a spoiled dog. That looks like a Bailey Chair, named after the dog for which one was built. Dogs suffering from a family of conditions called "Megaesophagus" can either eat upright or risk starvation or aspiration pneumonia. That chair helps mitigate the condition and give the dog a chance for something closer to a normal life or in some cases, a fighting chance for survival.

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Nfl needs to prove the union asked to delay judgement on players

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