NFL’s Adrian Peterson Suspension for Alleged Child Abuse Upheld

The Eighth Circuit has affirmed an arbitrator’s decision to uphold the NFL’s suspension of Adrian Peterson. Peterson, a running back for the Minnesota Vikings, was suspended for the remainder of the 2014 season amid allegations that he had abused his child.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell imposed the suspension, citing a violation the league’s personal conduct policy when Peterson beat his son with a wooden switch, which was later affirmed by an arbitrator. In February 2015, U.S. District Judge David Doty vacated the arbitrator’s decision. …

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Adrian Peterson Suspension: NFL Players Association Invokes Brady Opinion

On September 3, 2015, a New York federal judge overturned New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, and the decision has now found its way into Adrian Peterson’s lawsuit against the NFL.

In 2014, the NFL suspended Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson after allegations surfaced that he had used a wooden switch on his four-year-old son. The NFL Players Association filed a lawsuit on Peterson’s behalf, and the suspension was eventually overturned by a Minnesota federal judge. The judge — U.S. District Judge …

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Adrian Peterson Suspension: NFL Contends its Actions were Proper Despite Player Union Claims Otherwise

In 2014, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was suspended by the NFL after allegations surfaced that he had been disciplining his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch.

After Peterson’s suspension, the NFL Players Association filed a grievance on Peterson’s behalf against the NFL. The Association claimed that the NFL’s suspension of Peterson was retroactive punishment which is prohibited by NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. The Association contended that the NFL disciplinary policy that was in place at the time the events allegedly occurred dictated that …

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NFL Players Association Sues NFL over Adrian Peterson’s Suspension

Following the arbitrator’s decision on Friday that upheld Adrian Peterson’s suspension by the league, the NFL Players Association (“NFLPA”) filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

According to the filing, the NFLPA claimed that arbitrator Harold Henderson was prejudiced and unfair in affirming the suspension.  The NFLPA argued Henderson’s former executive position at and financial ties to the NFL make him biased.  Moreover, it further claimed that the decision ignored due process and followed the NFL’s new policy, which was implemented without collective …

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Adrian Peterson’s Appeal Hearing in Progress: No Settlement Offers on the Table

An appeal hearing to review Adrian Peterson’s indefinite suspension is underway in New York.  While ordering Troy Vincent, NFL’s executive vice president for football operations, to testify on December 4, Arbiter Harold Henderson also urged the NFL and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to settle the issue regarding Peterson.  According to ESPN, there has been no offers on the table yet.

Vincent was ordered to testify after the NFLPA submitted a recording of a phone conversation between him and Peterson where Vincent offered Peterson that …

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“Morals Clauses” in Sports Contracts – More Important Now Than Ever Before?

NFL players Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson are the latest in a long line of professional athletes whose misdeeds have been exposed to the glare of public scrutiny and discourse on whether they should be terminated or suspended due to their conduct away from the playing field.  Implicit in the dialogue and debate on the proper response of professional sports leagues and teams to the off-field misdeeds of their players is the contractual right to terminate or suspend  players under the so-called “morals clauses” of …

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