Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit has first pretrial conference, lawyer pushes back on arbitration

Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores’ racial discrimination lawsuit had its first pretrial conference in a New York court Monday, where Flores’ lawyers continued to push back against the NFL’s attempt to move the case to arbitration.

The Associated Press reported that attorney Douglas Wigdor called such a move “unconscionable” because league commissioner Roger Goodell would be the arbitrator in that situation.

According to AP, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, representing the NFL, told Judge Valerie E. Caproni that the league believes all claims in the lawsuit must be moved to arbitration according to the terms of employment agreements.

Wigdor said the league demonstrated “this unconscionable bias of the arbitrator” when the NFL said the claims in the lawsuit were without merit after it was first filed. He said it would not be fair for Goodell to arbitrate the claims after he earned $120 million over the last two years from the league’s teams.

Lynch said she invited the three coaches and their lawyers to meet with league officials to discuss the “important issues” surrounding racial inclusion that the NFL seeks to address.

“Today, they declined to meet with us,” she said, according to AP.

According to AP, Wigdor said he rejected the league’s invitation to discuss racial issues because there would be no magistrate judge or judge present. He also said he rejected the league’s invitation to discuss racial issues because there would be no magistrate judge or judge present. — Daniel Oyefusi, Miami Herald