Fort Lauderdale, FL, August 6, 2015 — Sports litigator Daniel Wallach was interviewed by Rachel Axon of USA Today about the dueling lawsuits filed by Tom Brady and the NFL arising out of the decision by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to uphold Brady’s four-game suspension for his alleged role in the “Deflategate” scandal.
Over the next few weeks, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman will have to decide whether to “confirm” an arbitration decision rendered by Goodell (in which the four-game suspension was upheld), or “vacate” the arbitration ruling and thereby overturn the suspension. Because judicial review of arbitration decisions is quite limited, Dan believes that this case is not about “deflated footballs” so much as it is about the procedures that the NFL employed for suspending Brady. In other words, as Dan explains, Judge Berman will focus on issues surrounding the “process” by which the NFL suspended Brady, including whether Commissioner Goodell (acting as the arbitrator) was “evidently partial” towards the NFL. Dan believes that the NFL overreached in its discipline of Brady, and predicts that the suspension will be overturned by the federal court.