Game Over for Ezekiel Elliott; Appeal at Second Circuit Dropped

Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott has accepted his six-game suspension and withdrawn his appeal at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, ending the battle that started in July 2016, when Elliott’s ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence. After a year-long investigation, his suspension was announced August 11, 2017. Elliott fought the suspension through three different courts, and got three reprieves that kept him on the field for the first half of the season.

He will sit out the next five games, and is set to return …

November 3, 2017 NFL

Ezekiel Elliott Gets Hail Mary; Set to Play on Sunday

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) emergency motion for a temporary order blocking Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension. The order blocks the six-game suspension for domestic violence that Elliott has faced all season and will allow Elliott to play in Sunday’s (November 5, 2017) game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Second Circuit Judge granted Elliott’s request to stay his suspension and the issue will be referred to the next available three-judge panel to expedite the appeal process. The National Football …

November 2, 2017 NFL

NFLPA Fumbles Emergency Stay of Ezekiel Elliott’s Suspension; Appeals to Second Circuit

In yet another move to try to delay Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension, the NFL Players Association made an emergency motion seeking a temporary order blocking the suspension. The motion came less than a day after U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, on October 30th, had denied the NFLPA’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block the suspension while the appeals process continues. Judge Failla quickly denied the request, saying it would “in effect … reverse [her] decision of [Monday] evening denying the NFLPA’s …

October 31, 2017 NFL

Ezekiel Elliott Back on the Bench as Suspension Reinstated

After hearing arguments from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott’s request for a preliminary injunction to block his six-game suspension. The decision comes only two weeks after the same court had granted Elliott’s request for a temporary restraining order that had then frozen the suspension.

This was Elliott’s second request for a preliminary injunction since he received the suspension on August 11 following domestic violence allegations. The first request had been granted by …

October 18, 2017 NFL

Cowboys’ Elliott Catches Yet Another Reprieve in Fight Against NFL Suspension

South District of New York Judge Paul Crotty granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Tuesday, October 16, 2017, blocking the NFL’s suspension of Dallas Cowboys’ star Ezekiel Elliott, pending a hearing before the presiding judge, Katherine Polk Failla, who is on vacation. Judge Crotty’s ruling that “irreparable harm” would be caused if Elliott served the suspension comes only five days after the Fifth Circuit had overturned the first injunction, issued by a Texas court, which had frozen Elliott’s suspension. The Fifth Circuit …

October 17, 2017 NFL

The NFL and Ezekiel Elliott Will Now Duel in New York Federal Court Over His Six-Game Domestic Violence Suspension

The battle between Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott and the NFL continues. Last week the Fifth Circuit cleared the way for the NFL to enforce Elliott’s six-game domestic violence suspension. In the most recent update, the NFL Players Union urged the New York federal judge overseeing the NFL’s adjoining suit to grant it an emergency order blocking his suspension that is set to begin this coming Monday, October 23, 2017. Among its answer and counterclaim in the New York suit, the Players Union seeks an …

October 14, 2017 NFL

Is Ezekiel Elliott’s Suspension Finally Going to be Enforced After Appellate Court Sides with NFL?

The latest motion in the legal battle over Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension has been decided. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for the NFL to enforce a six-game suspension on Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott over domestic violence accusations, siding with the league in the most recent high-profile fight over its ability to penalize players for off-field behavior. Specifically, the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 opinion, granted a stay for the injunction that was postponing Elliott’s six-game suspension. The majority ruled that …

October 12, 2017 NFL

Decision on Cowboys’ Elliott Suspension Officially Thrown into Fifth Circuit’s Hands

The NFL’s New York suit seeking to enforce the six-game suspension on Dallas Cowboys’ Ezekiel Elliott was halted on October 11, 2017 until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals makes a decision. Manhattan federal court’s District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said she would not issue a formal stay of the injunction — the injunction currently preventing Elliott’s suspension from taking immediate effect — but that she would halt the New York litigation. Elliott has played, so far, in all five Cowboys’ games this season.

The …

September 20, 2017 NFL

Ezekiel Elliott Will Stay on the Field for Now

U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant ruled on Monday, September 18, 2017, that Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot’s suspension will remain on hold, allowing Elliot to continue to play. Judge Mazzant, the same judge who originally granted the preliminary injunction freezing the suspension, has held the injunction will remain in place because the “NFL deprived the NFLPA the right to present…any evidence relevant to the [arbitration] hearing.” Mazzant wrote that “the court still has a role to play in reviewing arbitral awards coming from …

September 16, 2017 NFL

Will the NFL be Able to Enforce Ezekiel Elliott’s Six-Game Suspension this Season?

The battle between the NFL and Dallas Cowboys running back, Ezekiel Elliott, continues. The NFL has now filed an emergency stay demand with the Fifth Circuit to make Elliott serve his six-game domestic violence suspension this season, following a warning the NFL made to Texas Federal Judge Amos Mazzant if he did not rule on the NFL’s stay bid by the end of Thursday. Judge Mazzant put Elliott’s suspension on hold after he found Elliott’s arbitration process was fundamentally unfair.

The league is now arguing …