charged for the Jaguars last year. And
what seemed to be the final straw.
The thing that resulted in the Jaguars firing, even though
they claim that it wasn't because they'd known about it
for months. It's just once it became public, then all we have
to do something about this. The claim from former Jaguars
kicker,
Josh Lambo, that he was kicked by Urban Meyer during pregame
warm-ups in advance of a preseason game against
the Cowboys in August. And and it was a
fairly hard kick in.
Lambos version of the events. Meyer denies. Anything and
everything. And yada yada. Yada. They fired him after
that. Now Lambo is suing the Jaguars. He wants
his base salary of three and a half million for 20 21. He
wants compensation for his emotional distress. And
the argument is
that
Meyer
physically and verbally abused him.
Lambo made a complaint under the Florida, private sector
whistleblowers act and a lot of
States have a provision like this where
it encourages people to come forward with complaints
and it gives them protection against retaliation. And
I guess the argument would be hey this guy would still be
the kicker for the Jaguars would have been the kicker in 2021,
but for the fact that he complained about Urban Meyer,
here's why it's going to be a problematic lawsuit from
the get-go. The collective bargaining agreement. One of
the
things you give up as a player when you're part of a union is
the ability to run to court when your rights have been
violated. There's a
Even's procedure that he will have to go through.
Now he could argue that his rights under the Florida
private sector whistleblowers actor, Exempted from the CBA
and there's different
legal arguments that could come up. But I guarantee you
the first move by the Jaguars just like it would be
if and when Myers Sue's them
for the balance of his contract. And they try to take
it to the secret rig, Kangaroo, Court of Roger, Goodell Lambo
Sue's them. The first move is going to be to take it.
To the much less secret, much less rigged, much less Kangaroo
Court of the CBA,
but even there, the team gets a better outcome because you
avoid going in front of a judge and a jury, but that's
the procedure that's baked in
to the the Labor Management relations. And that's where
Lambo is probably going to have to go. I'm surprised you filed
the lawsuit because usually these are things that are
handled under the CBA. So I mean, first off
into just two things. I want to ask you a question. First thing
is like, you know, again, very queer people. Like I see her
sometimes. First off,
if it was just like a friendly nudge. Kick like where yo man,
I just, you know, put my foot and hit you in the thigh or
but, and you know, it's like a camaraderie
and nothing would be said, they're obviously had a been
enough of a kick here for a guy to come with this complaint.
I don't think it was just a playful nudge even though he's
a kicker.
He's still a football player and used to these kind of
things. It Had to have crossed the line. Now the thing I want
to ask you Mike is like
does this help or her Jacksonville?
As far as like if Meyer wants to recoup money, is it going to
be a good thing to go?
Hey, look this guy, our Urban Meyer broke a lot of rules.
Look, what he did the Josh Lambo, but at the same time
like to what you're kind of saying, you could also go well
weight that has nothing to do with it. They kicked him
whenever and then they let him go forever. So I guess that's
where I struggle with it. As I, you know, get get facts of the
Any information here?
Well, we saw the very strong quotes that were
made by shaad con the owner, the Jaguars Jarrod Bell of USA
Today in in the aftermath of the news emerging that fox and
Meyer were closing in on a deal for him to return
right after that again. There are no coincidences right after
that Khan unloads on Marv, how can you work with someone like
that? It was issues of trust etcetera, etcetera. It was as
harsh of a comment that I've heard and
Owner make about a former coach since Al Davis got the overhead
projector out and went after Lane kiffin, all those years
ago. So,
there's some acrimony there. Oh, and by the way, Urban Meyer
still hasn't been rehired by Fox. I wonder if they're just
letting the.
I don't know. They have to rethink if they can afford
Urban Meyer after committing to Tom, Brady, maybe Urban Meyer's
money and a lot of other people's money went to Tom.
Brady. I digress.
This helps the Jaguars potentially in their fight against Mayer
when Meyer tries to get the balance
of his contract. It's going to be a lot more than the three.
A half-million that Lambo thought he was going to make
last year. So this, this does potentially help.
But, but my argument would be, if I was representing Meyer,
you knew about this in August. You didn't fire me then, right?
So how can it be for? Cause you just had a bunch of little
things that weren't that weren't true. Cause,
and those were enough things that caused you to say. We just
want to be done with this guy, but we really don't have cause
to do it because everything we knew about we forgave by not
firing him men.
Oh, wow. It was for cause after this stuff in Cincinnati and
and In your post and going up to Columbus and being
video taped in a way to embarrass the team. Why you
should have fired me then. Well, you didn't really tell us
the truth, when when
we interrogated, you about what happened? Well, you should have
fired me. Then when, you know, well, you kick the kicker.
Well, you should have fired me. Then that. What about like now
is for like the amount of things
building up to, like what you're talking about to going.
Okay, maybe not that but here it was strike 94. He did
something this week again. So we finally were like, that's
it. He's not going to learn. There's there are no Well,
precedent for that.
Three points to make very quickly. Number one. Was there
something that happened the week that they fired him? That
was just coincidental to the news emerging that he had
allegedly kicked Josh, Lambo because if the Catalyst was
the public now knows what we've known since August.
I like that argument on Myers behalf. I don't like many other
arguments on Mars behalf. But I like the one that you're kind
of full of crap here. If you're saying that that wasn't
the Catalyst, when there really wasn't anything else.
Secondly, what kind of a record?
They create what kind of documentation is there. And
this is this is one of the things I used to advise
employers on
Once Upon a Time in my legal career.
And then when I flipped over to representing the rights of
individuals far more fulfilling frankly, I would always attack
that. What kind of a paper trail? Did you create? You have
all these concerns? Where's the memos? Where's the
file? Where's the warnings? Where's this? Where's that?
Where are the opportunities? You've given my client to try,
to understand what the issues are and conform, his, or her
behavior to what your expectations are. So, let's see
how you've
Papered the file. Third, most importantly.
Any claim Mayer makes is going to the secret rig. Kangaroo
Court of Roger Goodell who is going to be far, more likely to
find
for Urban Meyer. And this is the point that we've made all
the time. There's always going to be
enough facts to come to either conclusion. And if you have
a baked in bias, if you have an inherent conflict of interest,
if you are making a decision
that involves somebody who is paying you
60 million a year or more
to do your job. You're going to be more likely to find in their
if it's pretty obvious
that there's a conflict of interest or the point where
I can't believe they've gotten away with this for all these
years. So Mars is going to have a hard time and this does help.
This does help Jacksonville's case, even if it doesn't fit
the legal analysis,
it just shows even if it's hard to make. It's just it's one of
those things that you know, it's even coming close, you
guys a butthole, he got what he deserved. Yeah, right that this
is how the legal sausage gets made.
It is not blind Justice. It is not. We are
Going to
objectively and dispassionately assess, the facts, apply
the law to the facts in a methodical way and treat this
like a mathematical equation. No,
you decide, and juries do it
and judges do it. Do we like this person?
Does? This person deserve the justice that he or she is
seeking.
Is this person someone that we are comfortable giving justice
to all those things? Go into it and you decide where it wants.
It's where you want it to end and you work backward to get
there. That's that's how it works
everywhere everywhere. That's how it works. So that's how it
work for Urban Meyer.
The fact that Josh Lambos on the record with his lawsuit now
is not going to help Urban Meyer get his money and he
should have signed the deal with Fox before they gave his
money to Tom Brady.