[MUSIC] Welcome back, in this lesson we're going to take you through a study guide on the NFL commissioner's authority. We'll look at the Ray Rice incident. Many of you are familiar with it. The point here is going to be to trace the NFL commissioner's model of authority, as opposed to the other leagues. And we'll see how not once, not twice, three times, four times in recent history, he has been overruled, his initial discipline has not been upheld. As you know, as you'll see from our study guide, Ray Rice engaged in that which was certainly an assault charge. Both he and his then fiance, Janay Palmer were arrested on assault charges following an incident at the Atlantic City Casino. Raven's personnel publicly declared that they would stand by Rice throughout the process. Rice was indicted on aggravated assault charges. He married Palmer prior to his trial date, rejected a plea deal and the prosecutors accepted Rice's application into the program. The altercation will never appear on his record assuming that he does in fact complete the program. And it was only 1% of domestic violence cases where the previous fours year that had gotten this special treatment, according to Outside the Lines. The Ravens held a press conference for Rice. They said all is perhaps right with the world. Rice apologized for the situation. Palmer apologized for her role in the situation. Rice and the Ravens met with the commissioner at a disciplinary hearing. The initial hearing and suspension followed. Rice's wife, the study guide will tell you, plead with Mr. Goodell. Please do not punish Rice for his actions. These are things, forgive and forget. Five weeks later, Rice was suspended for two games, fined $58,000 for conduct detrimental. Similar punishment. NFL then released its domestic violence policy. There was a lot of pressure from the fanbase, the league sponsors, the media. Here comes the new policy. It will require a six game suspension. And then the other shoe drops. TMZ released full elevator footage. Goodell reconsiders his suspension. Well, what does that mean? He succumbed to the pressure. I had not seen the footage prior to making the two game suspension or so he said. The Raven now release Rice, we've seen the footage. The Associated Press reported that the NFL had in fact received the footage, but couldn't confirm that Goodell himself had seen the footage. He received a great deal of criticism. People were calling for his resignation. This was very graphic stuff. Goodell announced, the commissioner did, after reviewing the full footage, that Rice would be suspended indefinitely. And then we're going to conduct an independent investigation said the commissioner, now taking into account the video footage. Ray Rice appeals this indefinite suspension, likening the situation to double jeopardy, that's the legal hook that we're going to hang on to here. He can't punish me twice for the same incident. There's another hearing. He recuses himself, Roger does. Has an independent former federal judge Barbara Jones hear the appeal. And for the first strike and he's almost out, overturns this second suspension. Forces the NFL to immediately reinstate Rice, why? Because it's basically a double jeopardy situation. You can't put in place a new penalty for six games standard after the fact, have to be judged by the standards that were then in effect when the relevant acts happened. And we have a number of links we can study this in greater detail, but the way to look at it is, you can't punish somebody twice for the same situation. And Judge Jones saw through this and said come on, reinstate him. Vacating commissioner Goodell's indefinite suspension. Adrian Peterson, very, very similar outcome in the sense that it's going to be strike two against the commissioner. He's going to be overturned again, this time by a federal judge, Doty, we're all too familiar with Peterson being indicted for reckless or negligent injury to his child. Subsequently deactivated by the Vikings. Ultimately, he turns himself into the authorities, posts his bond, Vikings reinstate him. Come on, this was only discipline of a child, say the Vikings. He's their most valuable player. Growing concern just like we saw in the Rice case. This is becoming a public embarrassment for the league. Vikings placed Peterson then on this so called exempt commissioners permission list. Next comes the court case, attempted reinstatement. Peterson pleads not guilty to child abuse, no contest instead. Difference between not guilty, no contest, misdemeanor, reckless assault charges. He seeks immediate reinstatement. Players Association files a grievance and wants to have Peterson removed from the commissioner's exempt list. Then on November 18 of last year, Commissioner Goodell announces he will suspend Adrian without pay for at least the remainder of the season under this conduct detrimental regiment. An independent arbitrator rules that, you we could keep him on this exempt list, and Peterson appeals that suspension. So this gets referred to independent arbitrator Harold Henderson, a former NFL executive. He hears the appeal. He upholds the suspension. And the NFLPA, the Player's Association, has no choice but to file a federal lawsuit to challenge this ultimate decision that was consistent with the commissioner's authority. Judge David Doty then, in the federal court system, is going to overturn, vacate, as we're going to see in the Deflategate, he's going to overturn and vacate this. Why? Well, this is going to be an ex post facto application of a new discipline policy, applied against Peterson. So we you think of Rice, in the context of a double jeopardy, this was an ex post facto punishment, after the fact, according to new policies that were not in place at the time of the acts in question. In April then, Peterson meets with commissioner Goodell to discuss his reinstatement. And shortly thereafter, after judge Doughty had vacated the award and remanded the case back to further arbitration proceedings, well, there was essentially a kiss and makeup session. And NFL reinstates Peterson, effective of April 17. And you see, he's playing quite well again this year. That's strike two. Strike three is Greg Hardy. Now we're going to see the commissioner get overturned here again. A terrible, terrible incident I can't even hardly bring myself to talk about. Some of the videos that have come up that really make this domestic violence situation one of the worst on record. At the end of August in this case, response to Ray Rice, the NFL had announced their new policy for domestic violence. Hardy appears in his first season game for the Panthers, his appeal his pending, trial set for November. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson addresses the media. He was crying publicly, perhaps crocodile tears, that discussing these domestic violence issues. And two hours prior to the home opener, the second game of the season they finally make him an active. He elects to join this exempt commissioners permission list. Trial postponed until after the season. Ron Rivera, his then coach, announces that Hardy should be permitted to play until his guilt or lack thereof is determined. Hardy earned 13.1 million for the season despite appearing in a single game. Off-season suspension follows. Charges related to the domestic violence were dismissed prior to trial. Prosecution reportedly could not find the victim. Well, it's been pretty widely reported he agreed on a financial settlement with the victim. Panthers didn't offer Hardy a contract, good for them. Hardy then signs a one year contract with the Cowboys in March. Think about that Jerry Jones, think about it twice. Commissioner Goodell announces a ten game suspension without pay conduct detrimental. Unfortunately, he gets overturned again here. This gets referred internally on appeal to Herald Anderson again. And he served as the arbitrator, but unlike what had happen in the prior case, Herald Anderson in the Peterson appeal where he had upheld the discipline in this case, says no, no. Article 46 of the collective agreement requires a decision as soon as practicable and Hardy's team would appeal the case even if it went to court. Hardy, in his defense at the hearing before Henderson says the incident occurred prior to the new domestic violence policy. He can't be punished ex post facto. So you see again, we're getting this strike two, strike three. And our study guide will take you through Harold Henderson's decision on appeal. He determined that the suspension to be excessive. He reduced it from ten games to four. Ten games was simply too much. Too much of an increase over prior cases. And Hardy's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, keeping a close eye on Deflategate. Well, we now know Deflategate, again, was yet another overturning. So, we look at each of these cases. We're going to have a separate study guide on Deflategate. We'll take you through that. We have other suspensions that we're going to put in our study guide to show you how the new performance enhancing drug, recreational drug policies work. We're going to look through Josh Gordon, Cleveland Brown, ultimately walked himself, talked himself and drugged himself [LAUGH] into a season long,suspension much to the dismay of Cleveland Brown's fans. We're going to have the study guide that will take you through each and every one of carefully articulated policies for recreational and performance enhancing drugs situations. So you'll know how to represent your professional athlete. And as, I said in the Josh Gordon case, at the end of the line. We're going to see in February 2015, Josh Gordon tested positive for alcohol, violation of the substance abuse program, and resulted in a full-season ban. Not challenged, not challenged at all. And as I said, then the new NFL drug policy, there's a new collectively bargained drug policy, HGH, human growth testing, appeals for positive drug tests. Now, finally, we find this'll be heard by a third party set of arbitrators jointly selected by the NFL and the PA. Brightline disciplinary procedures are outlined for the use of performance enhancing and substance abuse drugs. And each of the disciplines for a first violation and a second and a third have been agreed now between in and among the union representing the players and the league. And we have substance abuse drugs discipline policies, as well as performance enhancing drug policies that have now been very clearly collectively bargained. Along with the DUI related discipline policy, driving under the influence. So, we hope you will find this helpful. Those of you who want to represent a professional athlete in the NFL this is essential material that you need to know. You need to understand. You need to be able to immerse yourself in it to be able to effectively represent your professional athlete. And it's same across the other leagues as well. But we take a deep dive here because we see the commissioner's authority being eroded repeatedly through decisions that get overturned. Either in the federal court system or by the internal arbitrator Judge Jones, Harold Henderson, and the internal appeals procedure, Judge Doty in the federal court. And in another case, we're going to look at the Tom Brady DeflateGgate case where, again, the commissioner's authority was overturned. His final order was vacated by Judge Burman in the Tom Brady so called Deflategate case. So thanks for your attention and we'll move on for our next lesson. [MUSIC]
