MINNEAPOLIS — The latest dispute between the NFL Players Association and the NFL over the league’s personal conduct policy was aired Friday in federal court, as Adrian Peterson listened to arguments about his suspension that the union is trying to have overturned.
“I felt like I got a fair hearing, for once,” the Minnesota Vikings running back said to reporters on his way out.
It was more criticism of the disciplinary process that Peterson and the union have derided as arbitrary and unfair since punishment was levied by the NFL after the running back was charged in a child-abuse case involving his son. He resolved the case with a plea bargain last year.
Peterson did not speak at the hour-long hearing in front of U.S. District Judge David Doty, who has overseen much of the league’s labor matters over the past three decades. Doty took under advisement the NFLPA’s petition to nullify the decision by arbitrator Harold Henderson to reject Peterson’s appeal of the suspension that is in effect through at least April 15.
Doty did not provide a timetable for his decision.
The basis of the NFLPA’s argument is that the enhanced six-game punishment for players involved with domestic violence, announced in August and finalized in December, was unfairly and retroactively applied to Peterson. The injuries to his 4-year-old son occurred in May.
The union would prefer a ruling before March 10, when the league’s free agency and trading period starts. If the Vikings decide not to bring Peterson back for the 2015 season at his scheduled $12.75 million salary, the process of trading or releasing him or redoing his contract will be complicated by the expiration of the punishment put in place by commissioner Roger Goodell.
