A judge has dissolved Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott‘s temporary restraining order, meaning his six-game suspension is now in effect once again, tweets Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News.
Elliott was granted a temporary injunction earlier this month which allowed him to stave off suspension for two more weeks. But a judge tonight indicated that Elliott had “ample opportunity” to challenge the NFL’s ban during arbitration, and also said “the proceedings in their totality accorded with the CBA and the personal conduct policy,” per Hairopoulos (Twitter links). In essence, the court decided Elliott had already exhausted his potential remedies.
An appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit would be Elliott’s next step, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, but a decision from that bench wouldn’t be expected in short order. As such, Elliott will be banned while waiting for an answer from that court (were he to send his case in that direction). However, Elliott has 24 hours to file an appeal with the Second Circuit, and his legal team will argue that his suspension should be remain lifted until the appeal is heard, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
Elliott, of course, was issued his suspension following allegations of domestic violence. The fourth overall selection in the 2016 draft, Elliott has accused the NFL of fomenting a conspiracy against him, and the dispute has gotten ugly from all angles. Elliott and his camp have cast doubt on the consistency of his accuser’s claims and suggested her motives were profit-based, while the NFL has accused Elliott of victim-shaming.
But the situation at hand has little to do with the original accusations against Elliott, and instead is focused on the NFL’s disciplinary process and whether the league followed its own procedures. Interestingly, the Cowboys organization jumped into the legal fray earlier this month, issuing an affidavit stating the club would suffer irreparable harm if the New York didn’t issue Zeke a temporary injunction.
If Elliot is forced to serve his suspension immediately, he’ll miss games against the Chiefs, Falcons, Eagles, Chargers, Redskins, and Giants before returning to face the Raiders in mid-December. The Cowboys will use some combination of Alfred Morris, Darren McFadden, and Rod Smith for the next six weeks as they attempt to maintain their tenuous grasp on postseason contention.
Probably going to be appealed again.
Can we stop wasting taxpayers dollars on these stupid lawsuits? Can’t the nfl figure it out on their own? First Brady now this…tiring.
To answer your question, no, the NFL can’t figure it out on their own. If they would formulate a halfway decent policy and investigate and hand out discipline in a reasonable and consistent manner we wouldn’t be hearing about this stuff.
He’s an idiot, should’ve taken the 6 games from week 1-6. What a Waste of our tax $$$
How is wasting “Our” tax dollars? The judges are on salary and have to work cases regardless, right? Not like they are using Govt lawyers, so I don’t see how this affects “OUR” tax dollars.
agreed. didn’t understand that argument
I guess he means judges should be handling more pressing things other than a RB in the NFL.
It’s not taxpayer dollars, it’s the volume of cases judges at that level hear. There are all kinds of appeals they have to look at. That they would grant certarori to listen to a guy whine about getting in trouble and his poorly written employee handbook surprises me to begin with.
That’s what judges, court officials get paid to do, correct? Like I said, I don’t get the “Our Tax dollars” argument
So they get paid to take cases that will generate click bait over less publicly noteworthy cases that actually have some interesting complexities to sort through?
The NFL loses no matter what. This whole episode is disgusting.
Agreed. Goodell is spinning in circles these days. He has all but declared himself more fit at finding guilty people than our law enforcement agencies. Don’t get me wrong, if Zeke hit a women throw the books at him. But if the NFL has evidence that the justice system doesn’t, then it should be shared. Goodell has all but ruined a great sport. So glad I’ve quit watching this circus of a product.
The league has every right to hold its players to a higher standard than their states criminal code, but if you’re going to do that you need to do it the right way. Write a good policy and implement it with proper safeguards… that way there’s nothing to go to federal court over.
His lawyers will get another order signed and he will be back on the field. This is another soap opera in the making
Take the suspension. They’ll go 4-2 over this stretch. Loss to Chiefs and Eagles.
Rest your legs, comeback for Raiders, Seahawks, Eagles.
Trade that makes sense is to trade for Adrian Peterson tbh. It won’t take much, if they are worried AM and DM will not run behind that line.
They really need secondary help though, have for a couple years.
This is getting more annoying than the protests.
Pretty soon we’re going to have the Supreme Court rule that a 5 yard penalty is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment and referees will have to present a sworn affidavit to present their probable cause for a false start and request a Penalty Warrant.