3:00 PM UPDATE
According to USA Today's Tom Pelissero, Tom Brady spent Tuesday in New York City for settlement talks. According to Peslissero's sources, the settlement talks did not go anywhere and Brady opted to attend practice in West Virginia.
Since there was "no progress" in the settlement talks, it's likely that Judge Berman will take full control of the court room tomorrow, instead of crossing his fingers and hoping both sides would settle out of court.
According to NFL Network's Albert Breer, Judge Berman himself told Brady that he was not needed to attend court on Wednesday. The fact that the Judge dismissed Brady means that the Patriots quarterback's attendance shouldn't affect the court's opinion in any fashion.
This is far from over.
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New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady wasn't available for Tuesday's practice because he is planning on attending a DeflateGate settlement conference held by Judge Berman on Wednesday, according to USA Today's Tom Pelissero. Brady likely worked out at Gillette, but didn't attend the media practice outside, similar to how he handled the prior week's settlement meeting.
Wednesday's settlement meeting is completely voluntary as Judge Berman would rather deal with the lawyers on both sides, as opposed to Brady or NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Still, an appearance by Brady would reflect positively by Judge Berman as an example of Brady and the NFL Players Association taking the settlement seriously. The voluntary meeting is expected to involve testimonies from witnesses that spoke at the appeal, as well as include oral arguments from both parties.
Brady will miss the first joint practice with the New Orleans Saints, set to take place in West Virginia from 9:30am to 12:00pm.
Hopefully Brady and his lawyers will be able to sway Berman into convincing the league to settle and drop any suspension.