Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson will get another shot at trying to wipe out a more than $500,0000 payment that his former agent, Drew Rosenhaus, contends Jackson owes him.
Federal Judge Michael Fitzgerald late last month vacated a $516,415 NFL Players Association arbitration award that Rosenhaus had won against Jackson under the union’s arbitrator, Roger Kaplan. Fitzgerald found that Kaplan’s role as an arbitrator in a private dispute between Rosenhaus and one of his former employees, for which Kaplan received a $140,000 fee, should have been disclosed to Jackson.
 |
The original dispute between Rosenhaus and former client Jackson (below) dates back to 2013.
Photos by: GETTY IMAGES |
Rosenhaus contended in the case that the use of NFLPA arbitration in employment and other disputes involving people in the sports industry was “relatively routine.” Fitzgerald found in his decision, however, that Rosenhaus’ arbitration with his former employee, Danny Martoe, “is the only non-NFLPA dispute that has ever been adjudicated in an NFLPA arbitration.”
Fitzgerald wrote that his decision was not a criticism of Kaplan.
William Quinn, a partner in national law firm Morgan Lewis and one of Jackson’s attorneys, noted that judges are reluctant to overturn arbitration awards. He said he believes this is the first time a judge has overturned an NFLPA arbitration award.
“The arbitrator’s decision in Rosenhaus’ favor has been vacated, meaning it has no legal effect,” Quinn said. “If Rosenhaus now goes back to the NFLPA and tries to start the arbitration process
over again, the NFLPA will be required by its own rules to appoint an outside arbitrator who will decide the case impartially,” Quinn said.
Fitzgerald, in the ruling, found Jackson “has met his burden to show evident partiality.”
The arbitration goes back to 2013, when Kaplan rejected Jackson’s argument that he owed Rosenhaus nothing. Jackson alleged that Rosenhaus paid him an inducement and that inducements are forbidden under the NFLPA agent regulations. That allegation of an inducement involved a $375,000 loan, of which only $200,000 Jackson had to pay back — as long as he remained a Rosenhaus client, according to court documents.
Steve Feldman, an NFL agent who also served as counsel for Jackson, said that if a neutral arbitrator is appointed, Jackson will make that same argument.
Meanwhile, Rosenhaus’ attorneys were trying to get another arbitrator appointed through the NFLPA last week, said David Dickieson, partner in law firm Schertler & Onorato.
“The dispute is starting over from scratch, and DeSean Jackson can bring up any argument that he wishes to assert,” Dickieson said. He said he expects the new arbitration process to take less than six months.
