Re-inflated! Tom Brady’s Suspension Overturned

03 Sep, 2015

New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady’s “Deflategate” suspension was thrown out by a federal judge in New York on Thursday, following a seven-month standoff between the National Football League and its players union.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman vacated NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decision in July to uphold Brady’s four-game suspension over his alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs used during a January playoff victory.

The ruling cleared the way for Brady to take the field on Sept. 10 in the Patriots’ season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. He had been banned until an Oct. 18 clash with the Indianapolis Colts, which would have cost Brady nearly $2 million in salary.

Berman found that Goodell’s ruling was plagued by “several significant legal deficiencies,” including a failure to notify Brady beforehand that his alleged conduct could be punished by suspension.

“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,” Berman wrote.

The ruling is unlikely to be the last word on the matter, which has dominated sports radio, made national headlines and inspired nicknames like “Deflategate” and “Ballghazi.” The NFL can appeal Berman’s decision, a process that would take months to resolve.

Neither the NFL nor the players union, the National Football League Players Association, immediately commented on the ruling.

Brady, 38, was suspended over the footballs used in the Patriots’ 45-7 postseason victory against the Colts that sent them to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.

In May, Ted Wells, a lawyer the NFL hired to investigate the incident, found it was “more probable than not” that Brady was “generally aware” that two low-level Patriots employees had conspired to let air out of the footballs, which can make them easier to grip. Wells’ 243-page report formed the basis for Brady’s suspension.

But Berman said that was not enough to justify the ban and criticized Goodell for saying that Brady deserved the same penalty as a player who used steroids.

The judge also said Brady’s lawyers were improperly barred from cross-examining the NFL’s general counsel, Jeff Pash, who helped lead the Deflategate probe, and were unfairly denied access to certain investigative notes.

Amid months of recriminations and lawsuits, the stakes had grown beyond a mere four-game suspension. For the NFL and the union, the case became a test of how broadly to interpret Goodell’s authority to discipline players under the players’ collective bargaining agreement with the league.

For Brady, the allegations threatened his legacy as one of the NFL’s all-time greats. Brady and his wife, supermodel Gisele Bundchen, are one of the country’s most visible celebrity couples.

The quarterback is entering his 16th season and has played in six Super Bowls, winning four.

The NFL and the union had engaged in settlement talks for weeks with Berman, who urged them to find an acceptable solution. But a deal never emerged, even though Berman said this week they “tried quite hard.”

The Wells report included scientific testing and analysis by a Princeton University physics professor, text message exchanges between Brady and the Patriots employees and interviews with more than 65 people, among other evidence.

In denying Brady’s appeal on July 28, Goodell cited in part the quarterback’s refusal to turn over his cell phone, which he destroyed while the investigation was ongoing.

Brady testified that it was his practice to destroy old cell phones to avoid leaks of personal information.

Within a day, the league and the union had exchanged lawsuits seeking to have a federal judge uphold or vacate the suspension.

Brady and Goodell attended two hearings before Berman this month, as throngs of news camera operators and photographers swarmed outside.

Reuters

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