Judge orders all involved in Tom Brady case to ‘tone down their rhetoric’

A day after the NFL and its players association filed separate lawsuits in different states over the Tom Brady suspension, a U.S. District Court judge in Minnesota ordered the two cases to be conjoined in New York.

That can be considered a small victory for the league, which filed its suit first Wednesday in Manhattan asking the federal court to affirm Brady’s four-game suspension for his role in the New England Patriots’ deflategate scandal.

The NFL’s move was seen as a pre-emptive strike against the union, which went on to file a suit with the U.S. District Court in Minnesota -- where the NFLPA has had success with Judge David S. Doty -- looking to get the punishment dropped.

“The Court strongly suspects the Union filed in Minnesota because it has obtained favorable rulings from this Court in the past on behalf of its members,” Judge Richard Kyle wrote in his ruling Thursday morning.

“Indeed, the Court sees little reason for this action to have been commenced in Minnesota at all. Brady plays for a team in Massachusetts; the Union is headquartered in Washington, D.C.; the NFL is headquartered in New York; the arbitration proceedings took place in New York; and the award was issued in New York.”

In other words, nice try.

Later Thursday morning, Richard Berman, the U.S. District Court Judge who will be hearing the case in New York, issued a court order telling “all parties involved in this case to tone down their rhetoric.”

He also ordered the two sides to try to resolve the situation on their own, using bold letters on the word “forthwith” to show he means business.

“If they have not already done so, the parties and counsel are directed forthwith actively to begin to pursue a mutually acceptable resolution of this case,” he wrote.