Last week U.S. District Judge Richard Berman ordered New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to both appear at a Deflategate settlement hearing which has now been scheduled for August 12.
The hearing will take place in New York City with the purpose being to try to encourage both sides to reach a compromise regarding Brady’s four-game suspension, ESPN reports. Originally, Brady wanted to attend the hearing by phone, but sources reported on Monday that the judge ordered the quarterback to be there in person.
According to reports, the next step leading up to the settlement hearing will be whether the judge decides if the court documents submitted will remain under seal or be made available to the public. These documents include the transcript of Brady’s appeal hearing with Goodell in June.
If made public, the documents would tell the whole extent of the discussion involving Brady’s cell phone that the NFL claims he purposely destroyed after Ted Wells began his investigation. According to sources, the NFLPA used in its argument excerpts from earlier domestic cases that involved Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice in Brady’s appeal. In both Peterson’s and Rice’s cases, the documents were sealed.
On August 13 following Brady’s hearing, there will be another contempt of court hearing based on a motion the NFLPA filed against the Commissioner for taking to long to rule on Peterson’s appeal.
It sounds like the NFLPA and the Commissioner will be getting their fill of each other over the next several days. And, we, the general public have certainly had our fill of Brady and this whole dragged-out Deflategate mess.
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