Kevin O’Neill – Athletic Training Today

Posted on August 5, 2016August 5, 2016 by ATtoday

Ex-Dolphin athletic trainer, fired in scandal, must seek arbitration

Article reposted from MyPalmBeachPost
Author: MyPalmBeachPost

An appeals court on Thursday ruled that a defamation lawsuit filed against the Miami Dolphins by the team’s former head trainer in the wake of the team’s bullying scandal should be decided by an NFL arbitration panel, not a Palm Beach County circuit judge.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne (7) walks off the field with athletic trainer Kevin O’Neill following the Dolphins 38-7 loss to the Patriots in 2011.

Without comment, the 4th District Court of Appeal agreed with a lower court that Kevin O’Neill, who claims he was used as a scapegoat in the 2013 scandal that rocked the sports world, is contractually obligated to let an arbitration panel decide whether his claims are true.

The West Palm Beach-based appeals court upheld a 2015 ruling by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Donald Hafele. He ruled that O’Neill 10 times signed contracts that required that disputes be decided by arbitration.

Hafele also rejected O’Neill’s assertion that he wouldn’t get a fair hearing because the arbitration would be controlled by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The judge noted that Goodell appointed Jay Moyer, a former NFL general counsel and executive vice president, to represent him.

While attorney Jack Scarola, who represents the former trainer, continued to insist that arbitration amounts to a “kangaroo court where the NFL has its thumb on the scales of justice,” he said he accepted the ruling. “The O’Neills and I have beaten worse odds in the past and we intend to do it again,” he said.

O’Neill was sharply criticized in a 144-page report Goodell commissioned after Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin left the team, claiming he was subject to unrelenting racial epithets by fellow lineman Richie Incognito. Report author, attorney Ted Wells, claimed O’Neill refused to cooperate with those investigating Martin’s claims that team officials ignored his pleas to rein in locker room bullies.

Scarola,said O’Neill was bound by patient privacy. Instead of talking to O’Neill, the Dophins fired him along with former offensive line coach Jim Turner, Scarola claimed. Incognito was also released by the team.

O’Neill, who was fired weeks after being named NFL trainer of the year, is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

Posted on June 13, 2016 by ATtoday

Former Dolphin O’Neill Hired at Florida International

Former Dolphins trainer Kevin O’Neill, who was fired in the wake of the Bullygate scandal, has been hired by FIU, according to Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez.

O’Neill, who had been with the Dolphins since 1996 and was considered one of the NFL’s top trainers, was summoned during a league-wide trainers’ meetings at the scouting combine in Indianapolis in 2014 and told he was fired.

Later that week he was awarded the Fain-Cain Memorial Award for Outstanding Athletic Trainer of the Year by the NFL Physician’s Society.

The Bullygate investigation began when former Dolphins tackle Jonathan Martin left the team in October 2013 and accused teammates of harassment.

O’Neill, the Ted Wells report said, laughed when Richie Incognito and fellow offensive lineman Mike Pouncey and John Jerry harassed assistant trainer Naohisa Inoue, who was born in Japan.

Incognito gave the players Japanese-style head bands, which the report said they wore on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day to taunt him.

Wells also accused O’Neill of not cooperating in the investigation, although O’Neill supporters said that he was limited by medical privacy laws.

Last year, O’Neill sued the Dolphins, owner Stephen Ross and former coach Joe Philbin.

O’Neill’s attorney, West Palm Beach-based Jack Scarola, alleged that O’Neill had become a “pariah” within the athletic community and was a “scapegoat” in the scandal.

The case is still ongoing.

O’Neill told USA Today in November that he applied for 35 jobs and was only called for three interviews. He was turned down by both the NFL and some major colleges.

“This is a weight that hangs over me,” O’Neill told USA Today. “I definitely feel like a scapegoat.”

Former Dolphins offensive lineman Jim Turner, who was also fired after the Wells report released, was hired this offseason as Texas A&M’s offensive line coach after an lengthy stint without a job.

Turner has been publicly critical of Wells and the investigation.

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Posted on September 1, 2015September 1, 2015 by ATtoday

Former Dolphins AT receives arbitration

Former Miami Dolphins head trainer Kevin O’Neill must let an arbitrator, not a court, decide whether the team defamed him and used him was a scapegoat when it fired him in the wake of its 2013 bullying scandal, a Palm Beach County Circuit Court judge has ruled.

Rejecting claims that an NFL-controlled deck will be stacked against the team’s longtime trainer, Circuit Judge Donald Hafele ruled that O’Neill’s contract plainly said that any disputes would be decided by arbitration. If O’Neill didn’t like the contract provision, he should have challenged it, Hafele said in the 15-page ruling released late Friday. Instead, O’Neill signed 10 contracts that mandated arbitration.

Judge: Arbitration for former Dolphins trainer in defamation case photo

“Mr. O’Neill’s repeated execution of 10 separate employment agreements containing the arbitration provision … undermines his assertion that he was not afforded an opportunity to understand what he was signing,” Hafele wrote.

The judge also rejected O’Neill’s claims that arbitration is tantamount to a “kangaroo court” because it will be controlled by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who is paid by league owners. Hafele pointed out that Goodell has designated Jay Moyer to serve in his stead.

O’Neill’s attorney Jack Scarola unsuccessfully argued that Moyer, a former NFL general counsel and executive vice president, will simply do Goodell’s bidding. Scarola, Hafele ruled, presented no evidence to back up those claims.

The trainer and former offensive line coach Jim Turner were fired in the wake of allegations by lineman Jonathan Martin that unrelenting racially charged verbal attacks by fellow lineman Richie Incognito prompted him to leave the Dolphins. In the wake of the scandal that rocked the team and rippled through the league, the team released Incognito.

With pressure about locker room bullying mounting, Goodell ordered an investigation into Martin’s allegations that his complaints were ignored. Attorney Ted Wells, who authored the 144-page report, was particularly critical of O’Neill for not cooperating with the investigation. Scarola claimed O’Neill was bound by patient privacy. But, instead of talking to O’Neill, the Dolphins simply fired him, Scarola said.

Fired weeks after being named the league trainer of the year, O’Neill has been unable to find work even as a high school athletic trainer, Scarola has said. He is seeking an unspecified amount in damages.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/crime-law/judge-arbitration-for-former-dolphins-trainer-in-d/nnT6W/