NFL Push to Arbitrate Racism Suit Is ‘Unconscionable,’ Flores Says
(Bloomberg) -- The National Football League is making an “unconscionable” move by trying to compel arbitration in a lawsuit alleging widespread racial bias in team front offices, a lawyer for former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores said.
Lawyer Doug Wigdor said in a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Monday that arbitrating the claims would not be fair because, under league rules, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would decide the case.
Wigdor told U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni she should reject the arbitration bid and also said plaintiffs were entitled to seek evidence “that would show the unconscionable bias of the arbitrator.”
Flores sued the NFL, the Dolphins, New York Giants and Denver Broncos in federal court in New York in February, alleging the league actively discriminates against coaches of color and fails to live up to the so-called Rooney rule that requires teams to consider minority candidates for coaching and executive positions. Two more Black NFL coaches, former Arizona Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and onetime Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Ray Horton, joined the suit in April.
Loretta Lynch, an attorney for the NFL, said at the hearing that all of the claims in the suit are covered by individual team arbitration agreements that also incorporate sections of the league constitution which detail how such proceedings are conducted.
The plaintiffs claim, in many instances, they were given to sham interviews for coaching jobs just to comply with the Rooney rule. Wigdor said those claims aren't subject to arbitration because they were interviewing for job and didn't yet have a contract, Wigdor said.
Caproni ordered the two sides to meet and decide if limited discovery is warranted before the league files its motion to compel arbitration, which is due June 21. She urged the two sides to consider resolving the case out of court, saying the suit seems “a case that would benefit from settlement.”
Wigdor said the coaches don't want to meet without a neutral third party. “We're not prepared to meet with Commissioner Goodell,” he said.
The case is Flores v. NFL, 22-cv-00871, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
