Nat'l Football League Mgmt. Council v. Nat'l Football League Players Ass'n

• Decision Date: 25 April 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15–2805CON,No. 15–2801 L,15–2801 L,15–2805CON
• Citation: 820 F.3d 527
• Parties: NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, Plaintiff–Counter–Defendant–Appellant, and National Football League, Defendant–Appellant, v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, on its own behalf and on behalf of Tom Brady, Defendant–Counter–Claimant–Appellee, and Tom Brady, Counter–Claimant–Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

820 F.3d 527

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL, Plaintiff–Counter–Defendant–AppellantandNational Football League, Defendant–Appellant

v. NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, on its own behalf and on behalf of Tom Brady, Defendant–Counter–Claimant–AppelleeandTom Brady, Counter–Claimant–Appellee.^*

No. 15–2801 L

No. 15–2805CON

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: March 3, 2016.

Decided: April 25, 2016.

Paul D. Clement (Erin E. Murphy, Michael H. McGinley, on the brief), Bancroft PLLC, Washington, D.C.; Daniel L. Nash, Pratik A. Shah, Stacey R. Eisenstein, Gregory W. Knopp & James E. Tysse, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, D.C., on the brief, for Plaintiff–Counter–Defendant–Appellant and Defendant–Appellant.

Jeffrey L. Kessler (David L. Greenspan, on the brief), Winston & Strawn LLP, New York, NY; Steffen N. Johnson, Winston & Strawn LLP, Washington, D.C., on the brief; Andrew S. Tulumello, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Washington, D.C., on the brief, for Defendant–Counter–Claimant–Appellee and Counter–Claimant–Appellee.

Before: KATZMANN, Chief Judge, PARKER and CHIN, Circuit Judges.

Chief Judge KATZMANN dissents in a separate opinion.

BARRINGTON D. PARKER, Circuit Judge:

This case involves an arbitration arising from New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's involvement in a scheme to deflate footballs used during the 2015 American Football Conference Championship Game to a pressure below the permissible range. Following an investigation, the NFL suspended Brady for four games. Brady requested arbitration and League Commissioner Roger Goodell, serving as arbitrator, entered an award confirming the discipline. The parties sought judicial review and the district court vacated the award, reasoning that Brady lacked notice that his conduct was prohibited and punishable by suspension, and that the manner in which the proceedings were conducted deprived him of fundamental fairness. The League has appealed and we now reverse.

The basic principle driving both our analysis and our conclusion is well established: a federal court's review of labor arbitration awards is narrowly circumscribed and highly deferential—indeed, among the most deferential in the law. Our role is not to determine for ourselves whether Brady participated in a scheme to deflate footballs or whether the suspension imposed by the Commissioner should have been for three games or five games or none at all. Nor is it our role to second-guess the arbitrator's procedural rulings. Our obligation is limited to determining whether the arbitration proceedings and award met the minimum legal standards established by the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq. (the “LMRA”). We must simply ensure that the arbitrator was “even arguably construing or applying the contract and acting within the scope of his authority” and did not “ignore the plain language of the contract.” United Paperworks Int'l Union v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 38, 108 S.Ct. 364, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987). These standards do not require perfection in arbitration awards. Rather, they dictate that even if an arbitrator makes mistakes of fact or law, we may not disturb an award so long as he acted within the bounds of his bargained-for authority.

Here, that authority was especially broad. The Commissioner was authorized to impose discipline for, among other things, “conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence, in the game of professional football.” In their collective bargaining agreement, the players and the League mutually decided many years ago that the Commissioner should investigate possible rule violations, should impose appropriate sanctions, and may preside at arbitrations challenging his discipline. Although this tripartite regime may appear somewhat unorthodox, it is the regime bargained for and agreed upon by the parties, which we can only presume they determined was mutually satisfactory.

Given this substantial deference, we conclude that this case is not an exceptional one that warrants vacatur. Our review of the record yields the firm conclusion that the Commissioner properly exercised his broad discretion to resolve an intramural controversy between the League and a player. Accordingly, we REVERSE the judgment of the district court and REMAND with instructions to confirm the award.¹

BACKGROUND

On January 18, 2015, the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts played in the American Football Conference Championship Game at the Patriots' home stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts to determine which team would advance to Super Bowl XLIX. During the second quarter, Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass thrown by Brady and took the ball to the sideline, suspecting it might be inflated below the allowed minimum pressure of 12.5 pounds per square inch. After confirming that the ball was underinflated, Colts personnel informed League officials, who decided to test all of the game balls at halftime. Eleven other Patriots balls and four Colts balls were tested using two air gauges, one of which had been used before the game to ensure that the balls were inflated within the permissible range of 12.5 to 13.5 psi. While each of the four Colts balls tested within the permissible range on at least one of the gauges, all eleven of the Patriots balls measured below 12.5 psi on both.

On January 23, the National Football League announced that it had retained Theodore V. Wells, Jr., Esq., and the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an independent investigation into whether there had been improper ball tampering before or during the game. That investigation culminated in a 139–page report released on May 6, which concluded that it was “more probable than not” that two Patriots equipment officials—Jim McNally and John Jastremski—had “participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee.” Joint App. at 97.² Specifically, the Report found that McNally had removed the game balls from the Officials Locker Room shortly before the game, in violation of standard protocol, and taken them to a single-toilet bathroom, where he locked the door and used a needle to deflate the Patriots footballs before bringing them to the playing field.

In addition to videotape evidence and witness interviews, the investigation team examined text messages exchanged between McNally and Jastremski in the months leading up to the AFC Championship Game. In the messages, the two discussed Brady's stated preference for less-inflated footballs. McNally also referred to himself as “the deflator” and quipped that he was “not going to espn ... yet,” and Jastremski agreed to provide McNally with a “needle” in exchange for “cash,” “newkicks,” and memorabilia autographed by Brady. Joint App. at 99–102. The Report also relied on a scientific study conducted by Exponent, an engineering and scientific consulting firm, which found that the underinflation could not “be explained completely by basic scientific principles, such as the Ideal Gas Law,” particularly since the average pressure of the Patriots balls was significantly lower than that of the Colts balls. Joint App. at 104–08. Exponent further concluded that a reasonably experienced individual could deflate thirteen footballs using a needle in well under the amount of time that McNally was in the bathroom.³

The investigation also examined Brady's potential role in the deflation scheme. Although the evidence of his involvement was “less direct” than that of McNally's or Jastremski's, the Wells Report concluded that it was “more probable than not” that Brady had been “at least generally aware” of McNally and Jastremski's actions, and that it was “unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady's” “knowledge,” “approval,” “awareness,” and “consent.” Joint App. at 112, 114. Among other things, the Report cited a text message exchange between McNally and Jastremski in which McNally complained about Brady and threatened to overinflate the game balls, and Jastremski replied that he had “[t]alked to [Tom] last night” and “[Tom] actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done.” Joint App. at 112. The investigators also observed that Brady was a “constant reference point” in McNally and Jastremski's discussions about the scheme, Joint App. at 112, had publicly stated his preference for less-inflated footballs in the past, and had been “personally involved in [a] 2006 rule change that allowed visiting teams to prepare game balls in accordance with the preferences of their quarterbacks,” Joint App. at 114.

Significantly, the Report also found that, after more than six months of not communicating by phone or message, Brady and Jastremski spoke on the phone for approximately 25 minutes on January 19, the day the investigation was announced. This unusual pattern of communication continued over the next two days. Brady had also taken the “unprecedented step” on January 19 of inviting Jastremski to the quarterback room, and had sent Jastremski several text messages that day that were apparently designed to calm him. The Report added that the investigation had been impaired by Brady's refusal “to make available any documents or electronic information (including text messages and emails),” notwithstanding an offer by the investigators to allow Brady's counsel to screen the production. Joint App. at 116.

In a letter dated May 11, 2015, NFL Executive Vice President Troy Vincent, Sr., notified Brady that Goodell had authorized a four-game suspension of him pursuant to Article 46 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the League and the NFL Players Association (the “Association” or the “NFLPA”) for engaging in “conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football.” Joint App. at 329.⁴...