Are we having fun yet? That’s a question we’re likely going to be asking many times over as the entire Ezekiel Elliott legal situation continues to play out.
Already flush with some big news on the Elliott front on Tuesday, the NFL has now filed a lawsuit against the NFLPA stemming from the entire Elliott six-game suspension. The suit was filed in the United States District Court in Southern New York. It asks the court to confirm the league’s arbitration power in the case over the state of Texas.
https://twitter.com/WerlySportsLaw/status/905264319268573184
A full PDF of the filed lawsuit can be found here.
Earlier in the week, the NFL filed a motion to dismiss a temporary restraining order (TRO) the NFLPA filed against the league in Texas. This comes after independent arbitrator Harold Henderson upheld Elliott’s six-game suspension earlier on Tuesday. It also comes with with district court in Texas set to rule on the TRO some time later in the week.
The short of the story here is that the NFL is questioning Texas’ power over its arbitration process. It’s also trying to send the case back to New York, where the Tom Brady Deflategate hearings were heard.
It would be rather interesting if the case in New York was heard by Judge Berman, who sided with Brady in the aforementioned Deflategate case.
As it is, Elliott will play Week 1 against the New York Giants. After that, it’s pretty much anyone’s guess as to what might happen. It’s this scribe’s opinion that the temporary restraining order filed by the NFLPA in Texas willl be granted, likely enabling Elliott to suit up for the entire 2017 season.
Related. Grab some popcorn, this promises to be an absolute blast. Sarcasm font, indeed.