mannc

That’s pretty vague. It shows that the Bills did in fact speak to her lawyer. It’s safe to say her lawyer told them plenty about the allegations…he doesn’t say that he made his client available to them and he doesn’t say what he would have told the team if they called back that he didn’t tell them initially. I think you’re putting too much faith in the word of the esteemed Mr Gilleon.

Araiza, of course, didn't file the lawsuit so nothing in it would constitute an admission by him.

I agree, but it's not easy to find an attorney who's adept at this sort of case. Do you hire a criminal defense lawyer, a civil litigator, or both? Not many lawyers are experienced at defending this sort of high profile criminal/civil matter and even some of the most renowned and experienced attorneys screw it up (see Rusty Hardin and Deshaun Watson). Very few defense lawyers are media-savvy...they mostly live by the credo of "not trying the case in the media", which is exactly what has to be done right now, IMO.

Remember, the "recorded phone call" has not actually been released to the public...all we know about it is what Gilleon has told the public about what's on the tape, and I would not trust a word he says.

Yeah, I think if they cut him now, the problem pretty much goes away, and the dropoff from Araiza to whomever they sign off the street probably won't win or lose any ball games. The dilemma is that it would be unfair to Araiza, if he's in fact innocent. And of course, he could turn out to have a great career for another team, if he's exonerated.

Seeing the Wawrow report below, it's tough to fault the Bills for the decision to draft Araiza, especially with a 6th round pick...to me the toughest question for the Bills is what they knew at the time they decided to cut Haack. It seems they knew quite a lot, which suggests either that there was an organizational failure or that there are some important mitigating facts that have not been made public yet...

This is generally a true statement, but I think there are exceptions, and this is one of them. If your career hangs in the balance--as it does for Araiza--it's probably worth the risk to put your narrative out there, especially when the other side is dropping bombs left and right in an effort to sway public opinion...assuming you have a compelling story to tell, of course. I believe Team Araiza was caught off-guard and has done a poor job of responding to Gilleon's tactics, and it is probably going to cost Araiza his job, if not his freedom.

Interesting. I had not seen that article. I wonder what "aware of the situation" means? If Araiza lied in response to specific questions the Bills asked him, then that puts it in a different light.

Now you're just parroting the plaintiff's lawyer's talking points. Araiza denies that's what happened. As I said, if he had nothing to do with the gang rape, as he maintains, then there was nothing to tell the Bills about in April.

If he had nothing to do with the alleged gang rape and no one was threatening to sue him at the time, then it’s not reasonable to expect him to tell the Bills anything about it except in response to specific questions. What makes you believe the Ravens knew?

Ok, but remember the time frame. I’ve seen nothing to suggest there was a threatened lawsuit in April, but maybe there was…

Or the opposite…

Again, it’s not at all clear that Araiza knew in April that there was any kind of legal issue to be concerned about, especially if you believe he had nothing to do with the alleged gang rape.

It’s not at all clear that Araiza knew there was any sort of pending legal matter in April.

What is your basis for this statement? Just curious…did he say that?

What was Araiza supposed to tell the Bills (and the other teams) pre-draft? Again, the “Araiza misled the Bills” narrative makes no sense at all.

Ok. I’d read (can’t remember where) that he refused to allow her to be interviewed, which would not surprise me.

Very possible, but that’s a dangerous game. Employer gets scared and cuts employee, there goes your settlement fund.

How do you know they didn’t ask?

The Bills absolutely spoke to her attorney as part of their investigation, as they should have.

Not at all. If an investigation explored all possible avenues, then it was thorough. Again, I don’t know if this one was, but the victim’s refusal to talk to them doesn’t make it less than thorough, especially if they talked to her lawyer.

It was reported somewhere that he refused, as I would expect him to.

They can’t force her to talk, and they did talk to her lawyer, which is the best they could do.

Ok, what’s your opinion on “how the Bills are handling this”? Seems hard for me to believe the team didn’t have enough information when they cut Haack, but if they didn’t, it’s on them, not Araiza.

It’s likely her lawyer would not permit it. I’m sure they asked.