Thursday, October 4, 2007

Mike Vick might have a lighter wallet after today

Most of us were aware that the Atlanta Falcons were going to eventually try and see if they could get back a significant portion of Mike Vick's $130 million contract.

Well, that day is today.

The Atlanta Falcons will try to convince an arbitrator the team deserves a refund on up to $22 million in bonus money paid to Vick. The Falcons are expected to contend that Vick knew he was in violation of the contract when he signed the $130 million deal in December of 2004, and that he used proceeds from the deal to fund his dogfighting operation.

The Falcons will be represented Thursday by team president and general manager Rich McKay and three more team officials in the private hearing in Philadelphia.

Attorneys representing the NFL Players Association will argue against the Falcons’ claim. Which means Vick might as well just give the money back now.

In all seriousness though, it's going to be exceedingly difficult for the Falcons to get the $22 million back. According to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, bonus money earned can not be returned.

Despite that fact, the Falcons are going to give it a try. Frankly I think it'll be hard to prove that Vick is aware of anything, let alone violations of his own contract.

But hey, most people thought Isiah Thomas was going win his sexual harassment case. And we all know what happened there.

-WCK

1 comment:

Jay said...

"Frankly I think it'll be hard to prove that Vick is aware of anything, let alone violations of his own contract."

I think that'll be the easiest thing for the Falcons to prove.
-Vick knew he was illegally fighting dogs. check.
-Vick new the Falcons contract, which he signed, prohibited him from doing illegal things (dog fighting, just to use a relevant example). check.
-Vick signed the contract, which he knew prohibited him from doing illegal things, knowing that he was doing something illegal at the time he signed it. check.
Verdict: Falcons win (for a change).

Free legal advice: if you sign something, even if you didn't read it, a judge will presume you've read it. that's why you shouldn't sign anything until after you've read it and you agree with everything in it. otherwise, do not sign it.

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