Background
Doty was born in Anoka, Minnesota.
Doty was born in Anoka, Minnesota.
University of Minnesota Law School. University of Minnesota.
He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota in 1952 and his law degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1961. He had served as a captain in the United States. Marine Corps in the interim, from 1952 to 1958. Following graduation he practiced privately in Saint Paul, Minnesota for a year.
He moved to Minneapolis the next year and practiced there from 1962 to 1987, partly with the Popham Haik law firm.
He had also served as a state Special Assistant Attorney General from 1968 to 1969 and as President of the Minnesota State Bar Association from 1984 to 1985. In February 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated Doty to an open seat on the United States. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
He continues to serve on the court, having assumed senior status in June 1998. Throughout his career as a judge, Doty has played an important role in labor disputes involving the National Football League (NFL).
Judge Doty is named in the current NFL collective bargaining agreement (College of Business Administration) as the ultimate arbiter of grievances or issues between the NFL Players Association and the NFL Management Council.
On March 1, 2011, he ruled that the NFL violated the College of Business Administration by negotiating a $4 billion payment from their broadcasting partners, in effect purchasing insurance against a potential lockout.