The suspension of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has ended, but the NFL and its players union continue their legal battle over it..
According to the Associated Press, the NFL Players Association submitted its written argument to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday, criticizing the league’s suspension of Peterson, which has now expired.
In February, U.S. District Court Judge David Doty ruled that arbitrator Harold Henderson’s denial of Peterson’s appeal should be voided.
The league appealed Doty’s ruling, arguing that he doesn’t have authority in the matter, because it falls under the umbrella of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Peterson after he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from his September indictment on a child abuse charge.
The suspension was enacted for the final six games of the Vikings 2014 season, after Peterson spent the majority of the season on the Commissioner’s Exempt list.
Peterson and the NFLPA filed an appeal, which was denied by Henderson.
According to the Associated Press, the union’s primary argument is that Peterson should only have been suspended for two games, since the incident occurred before Goodell announced a revised personal conduct policy, which upped the penalty to six games.
In the brief, the union called Doty’s ruling “unassailably correct,” for rejecting Henderson’s decision, which the NFLPA said “lacks the hallmarks of an honest judgement.”
The Associated Press reports the case is on track for a hearing this fall, most likely in October in St. Paul.
