The NFL players union is fighting back hard regarding Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension. The NFLPA filed a request for a temporary restraining order…
The NFL players union is fighting back hard regarding Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension.
The NFLPA filed a request for a temporary restraining order Thursday in the Eastern District of Texas after the appeal hearing regarding the domestic violence case surrounding the Cowboys running back ended after 2 ¹/₂ days. The order called for the courts to block any suspension of Elliott upheld by NFL arbitrator Harold Henderson, according to a court filing obtained by ESPN.
The union’s filing calls for the court to vacate any ban of Elliott, accusing the NFL’s appeal process of being “fundamentally unfair” and citing new facts revealed during this week’s hearing.
If Henderson rules Elliott remains suspended for any stretch of games, the court then can decide to stay the suspension while it reviews the matter. This means Elliott potentially could be permitted to play in the Cowboys home opener against the Giants and any game thereafter while the case works its way through the courts.
The NFLPA alleged in the filing that “there was a League-orchestrated conspiracy by senior NFL executives…. to hide critical information — which would completely exonerate Elliott.”
According to the filing, Kia Wright Roberts, the NFL’s director of investigations, testified Tuesday that she was the only NFL employee who interviewed the running back’s accuser, Tiffany Thompson, during the probe and that she would not have recommended discipline for Elliott based on her disoveries.
Roberts also said, according to the hearing transcripts, that she was not included in the part of the process where the committee that investigated the Elliott matter recommended discipline to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
In the filing, the players union also says Roberts concluded after reviewing all evidence that Thompson “was not credible in her allegations of abuse.”
“The withholding of this critical information from the disciplinary process was a momentous denial of the fundamental fairness required in every arbitration and, of course, does not satisfy federal labor law’s minimal due process requirements, ” the NFLPA wrote.
The union also claims, Elliott and the NFLPA were denied the rights of a fair procedure when Henderson would not grant their request to have Thompson testify. Elliott did testify at this week’s appeal hearing.
“As such, not only was Elliott denied the most fundamental rights to be able to confront his accuser and to have her credibility assessed against his, the arbitrator also rendered himself incapable of directly assessing the credibility of Thompson — which was critical to the fairness of the proceeding, ” the NFLPA wrote.
The NFLPA also questioned Henderson’s refusal to have Goodell testify in the appeals hearing, saying: “Without testimony from the Commissioner, it was not possible to determine the full impact of the conspiracy, or precisely what the Commissioner knew or did not know about his co-lead investigator’s conclusion that there was not sufficient credible evidence to proceed with any discipline under a League Personal Conduct Policy.”
Henderson must rule on the NFL’s punishment “as soon as practicable, ” according to the labor agreement. Dallas must cut its roster to 53 players by Saturday, and putting Elliott on the restricted list would give them an extra spot.
According to NBC Sports, if a ruling is not made by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Elliott will be eligible to play in Week 1 against the Giants. Henderson has 25 hours of hearing time to review as he crafts a ruling that is likely going to be challenged in federal court. But he is expected to have a ruling before then.
The NFL’s personal conduct policy was amended three years ago to stiffen penalties in domestic cases. The change came after the league was sharply criticized for its handling of a case involving former Baltimore running back Ray Rice.
