Brady 4 Game Suspension Upheld

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'm waiting for the Trump connection to come out.

This is a stupid video, do not watch.

This is now officially ugly. Leaking that Brady smashed his phone was nasty.
But it's not over 'till Brady says it's over. Goodell may wake up next to his horse's severed head.

[Joemailman]

“I also disagree with yesterday’s narrative surrounding my cellphone,” Brady wrote. “I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline."

I'm guessing this will be the crux of his defense in court.

[pbmax]

I'm guessing this will be the crux of his defense in court.

The NFLPA won the last case (don't remember which player) on a due process claim. Employers are not obligated to follow due process exactly as it applies to the Court system, but they must follow the spirit of the law. If Brady was not granted access to documents and witnesses, they'll argue that as well.

[pbmax]

Brady on what documentation they turned over:

“To try and reconcile the record and fully cooperate with the investigation after I was disciplined in May, we turned over detailed pages of cell phone records and all of the emails that Mr. Wells requested. We even contacted the phone company to see if there was any possible way we could retrieve any/all of the actual text messages from my old phone. In short, we exhausted every possibility to give the NFL everything we could and offered to go thru the identity for every text and phone call during the relevant time. Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells already had ALL relevant communications with Patriots personnel that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no ‘smoking gun’ and this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact they have zero evidence of wrongdoing.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/tom-brady-im-very-disappointed-i-did-nothing-wrong/

I was under the impression that cell phone companies kept data longer than that, but perhaps not for months.

But the question remains, did Brady destroy evidence or did the NFL simply leak that action to help sway the public to their side?

[pbmax]

What Brady offered, but was declined by the NFL:

Specifically, it can be found at footnote 11 on page 12 [of NFL statement upholding suspension]: “After the hearing and after the submission of post-hearing briefs, Mr. Brady’s certified agents offered to provide a spreadsheet that would identify all of the individuals with whom Mr. Brady had exchanged text messages during [the relevant time] period; the agents suggested that the League could contact those individuals and request production of any relevant text messages that they retained. Aside from the fact that, under Article 46, Section 2(f) of the CBA, such information could and should have been provided long before the hearing, the approach suggested in the agents’ letter — which would require tracking down numerous individuals and seeking consent from each to retrieve from their cellphones detailed information about their text message communications during the relevant period — is simply not practical.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/28/brady-offered-to-help-nfl-gather-missing-text-messages/

[Guiness]

Brady on what documentation they turned over:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/tom-brady-im-very-disappointed-i-did-nothing-wrong/

I was under the impression that cell phone companies kept data longer than that, but perhaps not for months.

But the question remains, did Brady destroy evidence or did the NFL simply leak that action to help sway the public to their side?

Well, he obviously didn't write that himself, and I think he speech writer took the same classes as Alex Rodriguez's, cause as I'm reading it I swear I've heard it before. Anyways, quite a mess.

Has an individual player sued the NFL before? I don't remember ever seeing it happen.

[pbmax]

Brady may face uphill battle on cell phone destruction if this anonymous lawyer is right:

http://www.atlredline.com/no-destroying-tom-bradys-cell-phone-was-not-okay-1720689663

He is required to preserve evidence, even in anticipation of civil litigation is that litigation is reasonably foreseeable:

In Brady’s case, his or the NFLPA’s attorneys will have to argue that litigation was somehow not reasonably foreseeable or anticipated despite every sports show talking head predicting that this situation would end up in court from the first day of the scandal. It seems highly implausible that a reasonable person in Brady’s situation would not foresee litigation and not think to preserve a cellphone after receiving multiple prior requests for it.

In addition, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e) states that:

Absent exceptional circumstances, a court may not impose sanctions under these rules on a party for failing to provide electronically stored information lost as a result of the routine, good-faith operation of an electronic information system.
Once again, Brady will try to argue that he routinely destroyed cell phones and that it was a giant coincidence that he happened to get rid of thousands of relevant messages on the same day investigators interviewed him.

Apparently, this lawyer is not anonymous:

Steve Silver is the founder of TheLegalBlitz.com. He is a former sports reporter for the Las Vegas Sun and is now a lawyer in Philadelphia. You can reach him at steve@thelegalblitz.com or on Twitter @thelegalblitz.

[Pugger]

I could actually get that Brady has his old phone destroyed when he gets a new one, because people would try to grab the data off it and with his celebrity status that would be a big problem. However it just happens to be the day he met with Wells, and he only had the phone for 4 months. Switching phones is a pain, and 4 months is not a normal upgrade cycle. Just way to suspicious to believe that it was a coincidence. If that was the best defense he had, I'm half surprised that Goodell didn't give him 6 games.

I don't think Goodell could increase the penalty during the appeals process.

[Pugger]

Is there anything in the CBA which says a player must turn over personal records to the NFL to aid in an investigation of said player?

I was under the impression Wells asked Brady to have his attorneys go over the texts and submit only pertinent communications germane to the investigation.

[Joemailman]

Robert Kraft:

"Yesterday's decision by Commissioner Goodell was released in a similar matter, under an erroneous headline that read: 'Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone,'" he said. "This headline was designed to capture headlines across the country and obscure evidence regarding the tampering of air pressure in footballs. It intentionally implied nefarious behavior and minimized the acknowledgement that Tom provided the history of every number he texted during that relevant time frame and we had already provided the league with every cell phone of every non-NFLPA employee that they requested, including head coach Bill Belichick."

If the NFL had been given the cell phones of Patriots employees Brady had corresponded with, I'm wondering why they needed Brady's cell phone.

[pbmax]

Robert Kraft:



If the NFL had been given the cell phones of Patriots employees Brady had corresponded with, I'm wondering why they needed Brady's cell phone.

Burners and personal phones. They know the texts from his old cell to the numbers they have in their possession, but he could have been communicating to phones the NFL is unaware of.

Its really second level stuff. And that's why I think the NFL leaked it, because it looks like tampering with evidence (may indeed be) even if the likelihood of pertinent data on it was low.

[pbmax]

Brady provided list of calls and texts made by Brady over the destroyed phone. NFL thought it not practical to contact each of 10,000 total communications, but ...

Yee said that of the parties pertinent or potentially pertinent to this case, there were just 10 teammates, two current coaches, five former teammates, one NFL Network employee, five members of New England's "front office" and five other Patriots' employees who had phone or text contact with Brady (which brings the total number to 28).

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/25253590/bradys-agent-nfl-shifted-focus-to-phone-because-its-science-is-junk

Brady is an idiot. Goodell is a weasel.

[Rutnstrut]

I could actually get that Brady has his old phone destroyed when he gets a new one, because people would try to grab the data off it and with his celebrity status that would be a big problem. However it just happens to be the day he met with Wells, and he only had the phone for 4 months. Switching phones is a pain, and 4 months is not a normal upgrade cycle. Just way to suspicious to believe that it was a coincidence. If that was the best defense he had, I'm half surprised that Goodell didn't give him 6 games.

Really 4 months not a normal upgrade cycle? He's fucking rich, and probably has someone that does all the bullshit stuff for him. Why wouldn't he want to upgrade, new phones come out so fast that you could easily upgrade every 4 months. I'm not saying he didn't destroy it to hide something, but normal logic does not apply to filthy rich people.

[Joemailman]

I'm starting to think this suspension has less to do with Brady's supposed involvement with deflating footballs and more to do with sending a message to NFL players that when the NFL asks for your personal information you had better provide exactly what they ask for. Or else.

[Guiness]

Really 4 months not a normal upgrade cycle? He's fucking rich, and probably has someone that does all the bullshit stuff for him. Why wouldn't he want to upgrade, new phones come out so fast that you could easily upgrade every 4 months. I'm not saying he didn't destroy it to hide something, but normal logic does not apply to filthy rich people.

He also went from Android to iOS (iOS to Android?). I've known people who've gone in one direction or the other in less than 4 months after getting a new phone.