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A Federal Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the demand of the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, Brian Flores, against the NFL for racial discrimination can go to trial.
The Second Court of Appeals of the United States Circuit in Manhattan confirmed the previous ruling of Judge Valerie Caproni that Flores can proceed with claims against the League and the Denver Broncos, the New York giants and the Texans of Houston.
The ruling rejected the attempt of the league to force flowers to arbitration, which would have made Commissioner Roger Goodell serve as the referee.
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The defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings before a match against the Green Bay Packers at the US Bank stadium on December 31, 2023 in Minneapolis. (Stephen Maturen/Getty images)
The NFL responded through the spokesman Brian McCarthy.
“We are respectfully disagree with the panel ruling and we will look for an additional review,” said his statement.
Flores sued the NFL and several teams in 2022, claiming that the league was “full of racism”, particularly in its hiring and promotion of black coaches. Two other coaches later joined the lawsuit, which seeks to proceed as a class action, although Caproni ruled that his statements could go to arbitration based on language in the contracts they signed with the teams.
Flores is the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings after previously working as a coach for the New England patriots, from 2008 to 2018; the Miami Dolphins, from 2019 to 2021; and the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022. He joined the Vikings in 2023.
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The coach of the Miami Dolphins, Brian Flores, and the field marshal Tua Tagovaila (Susan Stocker/South Florida/Tribune news service through Getty Images)
In a decision written by the circuit judge José A. Cabranes, the Court of Appeals said that the NFL arbitration rules force Flores to present their arbitration claims before Goodell does not have the protection of the Federal Arbitration Law because “it establishes arbitration only in the name.”
The 2nd Circuit said that the arbitration arrangement of the Constitution of the NFL “does not contractually establish an independent arbitration forum, or resolution of bilateral disputes and no procedure.”
“On the other hand, it offends the basic presumptions of our jurisprudence of arbitration” by forcing claims that are decided by the “main executive officer of the NFL,” said the Court of Appeals.
Douglas H. Wigdor and David E. Gottlieb, lawyers who represent Flores, said in a statement that the NFL has been based on a biased and unfair arbitration process for too long.
“This failure sends a clear message: that practice must end,” they said.
The defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings before a match against the Green Bay Packers at the Estadio of the US29 of December 2024 in Minneapolis. (Brace hemmelgarn/getty images)
Caproni said in a decision of March 2023 that the descriptions of the coaches of their experiences of racial discrimination in a league with a “long history of systematic discrimination towards black players, coaches and managers, are incredibly worrying.”
“Although the clear majority of professional football players are black, only a small percentage of coaches is black,” he said.
