DV in the NFL - My .02 on Ray Rice

As the entire world knows, a new video surfaced today of  the Ray Rice domestic violence incident.   This video is what happened inside the elevator.   We all saw the aftermath when a very drunk Ray Rice is trying to get an unconscious Janay Palmer out of the elevator.   The aftermath video may be the only one the NFL saw when they imposed the 2 game suspension on Rice.   Janay herself also accompanied Rice to his meeting with Goodell and pleaded for a light suspension.   What was she going to do with her abuser right there?   Say "suspend his ass forever?"

I even defended Rice after the aftermath video.   The story at the time was that she hit him first.   Hey, someone hits you, you are entitled to self-defense.   Now could you make like Jay-Z and not hit back when struck by a woman?   Sure.   But it is not wrong to defend yourself.   And he was drunk, he might not have realized how hard he hit her since his reflexes were affected.

I stopped defending him after the joint press conference.   Everything he said set off abuse alarm bells in my head.   He was clearly all about control in his talk about "being the head of the family" and "leading."    Again, Janay now Mrs. Rice was right there taking the blame.    Because abused women believe that.   "If only I hadn't provoked him, he wouldn't have hit me.   I know how he gets."   Make no mistake, before the first punch lands, the abuser has mentally abused the victim into believing she deserves it.  

Then the interior video surfaced.   It showed that Rice lied about what happened.   Janay never laid a hand on her.   I don't care what someone says, you don't hit.   You. Do. Not. Hit.   I don't care if it is most vile disgusting thing you have ever been called.   You. Do. Not. Hit.

But face it, the Ravens and the NFL knew he hit her hard enough to knock her out.  That only got him a 2 game suspension.  He got cut and suspended indefinitely for lying about the circumstances that preceded the hit.    The take away here is "Hit your fiancee, just don't lie about it."

Okay she married him.   Why?   Who nows?   They have a kid together.   Maybe he told her he would get custody of the kid because he had more money.   I see this all the time in my practice.   I explain and explain how custody is decided.   In Maryland, the judge must consider any incidents of dometic violence when deciding custody.   The judges have been educated that if domestic violence happens it is not always just confined to the parent and that even witnessing it affects the kids.   I tell my clients that.   They still believe that the barely literate moron they married can somehow manipulate the system in their favor.   That deispite laws about custody, marital property and alimony, the abuser will get everything and the victim will be homeless with just the clothes on her back.   These folks don't even have close to the resources of Ray Rice.   With his millions (even cut he gets $25 million) she knows he has the resources to get a good lawyer who can make things difficult for her.    Who knows what resources she has?    If she even believes she can try.   Remember I said above about the mental abuse?    Yeah, that could be in play here.   She's been told no one will love her like he does, that she is no good, that is it is her fault, etc.   When you believe that, why not stay?   You certainly don't believe you can make it without your abuser.

The Ravens have cut him.   The NFL suspended Rice indefinitely.   Sounds great right?   I'll believe in the ban from the NFL if he never plays another down.   But the reality is, there are different rules in the NFL for good players versus marginal players.   Rice is a very good player.   He can apply for reinstatement next year.    If he promises never to lie again and has taken some anger management classes to show what a great guy he is, I will not be surprised if Goodell decides to "give him one more chance."

The other aspect of the cut and suspension is what will happen with Greg Hardy of the Panthers?   He has already been convicted of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, but the case is appeal.   He played Sunday.    Ray McDonald of the 49ers has only been arrested.   In this country, innocent until proven guilty.   Let's see what happens if he is convicted.   If he is not convicted,  the NFL should think long and hard about punishing him.   Sure the NFL doesn't need a conviction to suspend someone.   Sure not being convicted means legally didn't do it.   But the NFL can protect the Shield and suspend anyway if they think there were manipulations (like paying off the victim to not testify or the victim was intimidated into not testify) to avoid the conviction.   Either way, the NFL better get all the evidence before deciding again.   And meet with the victim separately, thank you very much.

Could Football Have a McCourt Problem?

On Friday, I had the honor of meeting and speaking to Richard Cass, the President of the Baltimore Ravens.   He was the keynote speaker at a conference I was attending.    I also got a chance to speak to him at the reception after the conference.   He even shook my hand.   Squeeing like a fan girl would not have been professional, but I really wanted to do so.

During his speech, Mr. Cass mentioned that one of the cool things about the NFL was that it was basically 31 family owned teams -- and Green Bay which is community owned.   It makes it easier to know who is in charge of the team and makes for a different attitude towards the business of football.   Now some could argue that the idea of an NFL team as a Mom and Pop business is long gone.    Let the business blogs argue that one out.   This is a family law blog.

Which brings up my concern.    If the team is family owned, what happens when the family disintegrates?   What happens when Mom and Pop split up?    We also saw what happened to the Dodgers in the McCourt divorce (quick note, that one finally settled - Frank got the team, Jami got cash, MLB still ticked at everyone involved).

I asked Mr. Cass that very question.   He very graciously answered me.   Seriously, the guy is super nice and approachable.    He said it was unlikely to happen because the teams are not business where you have to sort out shares, etc.   In the NFL one person has to own at least 30% and one person has to have total voting control.    He also mentioned that the NFL has debt limits rules to keep a team's finances from getting too out of whack.

All that may be true, but Mr. Cass is clearly not a family law attorney.    I hate to disagree with such a great guy, but I just don't see how these things save a team from a McCourt style fight over ownership.   I raised these issues in a previous post of the Blank divorce and the Falcons.

Yes, the teams are family owned.   But to keep the families from being personally liable for the debts of a team, they tend to be corporations or limited liability partnerships.   One person may have voting control, but they are still businesses.

Businesses get divided in divorces ALL the time.   A spouse may have made monetary contributions to the business.   A spouse may have made non-monetary contributions such as working at the business without pay or even just making sure the face of the business has a clean shirt and ate recently.   All of these factors go into dividing up a business.

In community property states such as California or Texas, the law may consider the teams to be comunity property automatically entitling the spouse to half.    This would effect 5 teams in the NFL -- the Chargers, the 49ers, the Raiders, the Texans and the Cowboys.   Other states may also be community property states.

Marital property states, such as Maryland where the Ravens are based, would consider whether marital funds were used to purchase or maintain the team.   Marital funds are any money earned during the course of the marriage (with some exceptions).    In a marital property state, the court would consider the contributions of each spouse, the source of the funds, and what an equitable distribution of the property would be.

It is conceivable that a court may consider a team part of the community/marital property subject to division in th event of a divorce.   A court is not really going to care about the NFL bylaws -- except for possibly guidance on how teams are owned, structured and what the League might do in the event of a court fight.   But, the NFL bylaws are not the law of the land.    A judge is bound to apply the rules of the state in which the court hearing the divorce is located.

All is not lost.    The team is probably not the only asset of the divorcing couple.   They most likely have other assets in the pot of community/marital property that need to be divided up.    Contrary to  popular belief, it is not half of everything as in half of each thing.   It is half (or whatever figure) of the total.   So in this situation, a judge realizing the NFL really frowns on split ownership (remember guidance of the bylaws) such that frowning could result in the complete loss of the asset to both parties, will most likely give the team to one party and more cash and other assets to the other party.   In other words, one spouse gets the team and the other spouse gets more of the other goodies in the pot.

Of course, the problem arises when BOTH spouses want to control the team.    A judge is probably not going to divide  ownership -- even without the bylaws -- because that would require the spouses to continue working together.   If they got along, they wouldn't be getting a divorce.  A judge would have to choose between the spouses.   Some very fancy lawyering would have to go on here.    If someone is determined to keep ownership of a team in event of a divorce and can afford to keep fighting, this would go to trial.

In summary, sorry, Mr. Cass, I can see a prolonged court fight over control of a team despite all the rules the NFL has in place.   Just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't meant it won't.