The Arizona Cardinals are being ordered to pay ex-team executive Terry McDonough $3 million for “false and defamatory” statements made about him publicly to the media, per a federal court decision filed on Monday, according to ESPN.
Jeffrey Mishkin, the league arbitrator chosen by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, ruled that Arizona and its owner, Michael Bidwill, defamed McDonough “with malice” in a multi-page statement to media organizations, alleging McDonough committed spousal abuse and neglected his disabled, adult daughter. McDonough denied those claims.
Mike Caspino, McDonough’s counsel, filed the decision with the U.S. District Court in Arizona on Monday as a step in the legal process for the court to confirm his awarded compensation.
“Despite what we consider to be a fundamentally unfair arbitration process, Terry McDonough is the first person to ever win against an NFL owner,” Caspino said via a statement on the court filing, per ESPN. “Why the NFL has not held Michael Bidwill accountable remains a mystery.”
The $3 million McDonough is set to receive is a good amount of money, but it is a far cry from what he sought to receive in court. He filed for $15 million in lost future earnings, $10 million for emotional distress, $10 million for reputational harm and between $60 to $90 million in punitive damages.
Mishkin awarded him $150,000 in general damages for “the harm to his reputation” the defamatory statements caused, $600,000 in damages for emotional distress and $2.25 million in punitive damages.
The league and the Cardinals have not yet made public remarks about the case. However, McDonough didn’t win on some of his other claims centered around unlawful retaliation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. This arbitration claim was brought by McDonough against Arizona last April after he alleged that Bidwill retaliated against him…
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