ASHBURN, Va. — The legal professionals for greater than 40 Washington Commanders workers referred to as a letter despatched to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform by means of former chairman Tom Davis “stunning hypocrisy” as a result of its requests and “blatant errors and omissions.”
Attorneys Lisa Banks and Debra Katz on Friday answered to Davis’ letter, which was once despatched to the committee Wednesday. It raised considerations in regards to the investigative procedure and solid doubt at the credibility of quite a lot of witnesses. Davis, who led the committee for 4 years, works for the regulation company Holland & Knight, which represents the staff.
Davis in addition to different legal professionals for Commanders proprietor Dan Snyder say Congress interviewed simplest 20 witnesses and nobody these days with the group in its quest to be informed in regards to the staff’s place of work tradition. They stated legal professional Beth Wilkinson, who investigated the staff for the NFL, had talked to 150 other people. Davis additionally wrote that the investigation had develop into a partisan effort by means of Democrats.
In reaction, Banks and Katz wrote: “The Washington Commanders and Dan Snyder have stonewalled the Committee from the beginning of its investigation and have steadfastly refused to produce important requested documents and information, including but not limited to the findings of the Beth Wilkinson investigation.”
The legal professionals stated they want to come with Wilkinson’s findings, however “because Mr. Snyder and the NFL have refused to provide the Committee with the Wilkinson findings and supporting documentation, it has been forced to start from square one to collect relevant information. The investigation has been ongoing for a year, due in no small part to the team’s failure to cooperate.”
Davis pointed to former Washington staff president Bruce Allen as the principle reason behind what in the end was once categorized by means of Wilkinson because the staff’s poisonous place of work tradition.
“We do know that none of our clients has alleged that Mr. Allen played any role in the harassment or abuse they suffered or witnessed,” the legal professionals wrote. “In fact, most have never even met Mr. Allen. It is difficult to credit the team’s insistence that because Mr. Allen is gone, the problems with the team’s culture are in the past.”
John Brownlee, additionally with Holland & Knight and the Commanders’ criminal suggest, stated they despatched Davis’ letter in addition to emails from former workers as a result of they sought after to place “evidence in the record with the hope [the committee] would consider it. They’ve done nothing to challenge the credibility.”
Banks and Katz reiterated that they would like Snyder to give you the committee with the findings of Wilkinson’s investigation and to waive all nondisclosure agreements for present and previous workers so they are able to discuss to the committee. They additionally requested for “full and unfettered access” by means of the committee to the staff’s data and paperwork.
“Otherwise, Dan Snyder and the Washington Commanders should stop complaining about the evidentiary basis of Committee’s investigation,” they wrote.
The House committee’s document is anticipated to be launched q4, roughly twelve months after the investigation started.