Coaches' racial discrimination case against NFL can proceed, federal judge rules
Former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores (left), who’s among the coaches suing the NFL for discrimination, celebrates a win against the New England Patriots in 2019. He later filed a discrimination lawsuit against the NFL regarding its hiring practices. (Photo by Ryan Kang via the Associated Press)
A racial discrimination case brought by Black coaches against the National Football League can proceed in open court, rather than closed-door arbitration, a federal judge has ruled.
The ruling, reported by Courthouse News Service, is a major victory for current and former coaches who can get their lawsuit off the ground after years of arguing with the league over how the case should be tried. The coaches include Brian Flores, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton.
“This is an aging employment discrimination case that has been idling at the starting block for four years, while the parties argue over the forum in which the case will be litigated: federal court or arbitration,” wrote U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York, in her 14-page ruling.
Caproni, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, cited a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New York on the case from last year, in which the panel denied the NFL’s request to arbitrate some of the coaches’ claims because the process would be internally overseen by the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, the story noted.
Coverage of the suit was featured in an ABA Journal story in 2023.
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Topics: Career & Practice
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