FILE – In this July 29, 2016, file photo, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is shown during the first day of the NFL teams training camp at Mankato State University in Mankato, Minn. A federal appeals court has ruled that the NFL was within its rights when it suspended Vikings star Adrian Peterson in 2014 after he was charged with child abuse. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, that an arbitrator acted appropriately by upholding Commissioner Roger Goodell’s suspension of Peterson for six games. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that the NFL was within its rights when it suspended Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson in 2014 after he was charged with child abuse.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday that an arbitrator acted appropriately by upholding Commissioner Roger Goodell’s suspension of Peterson for six games. U.S. District Judge David Doty had tossed out arbitrator Harold Henderson’s ruling, saying he overreached his authority, but the appellate panel restored it.
Peterson was suspended in 2014 under the league’s personal conduct policy after he was charged with child abuse over disciplining his son with a wooden switch. He wound up playing only one game that season.
The three-judge panel wrote that the players’ union and the league both agreed to be bound by the arbitrator’s decision, and that Henderson had acted within his authority.
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