Cool Link OT: Flores lawsuit against NFL allowed with echoes back to Deflategate (LINK)

[upstater1]

Court agrees Brian Flores' suit vs. NFL, 3 teams can go to trial

The NFL can be put on trial over civil claims that Brian Flores and other Black coaches face discrimination, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

www.espn.com

The NFL can be put on trial over civil claims that Brian Flores and other Black coaches face discrimination, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, finding insurmountable flaws with a league arbitration process that would permit commissioner Roger Goodell to serve as arbitrator.

In a decision written by Circuit Judge Jose A. Cabranes, the appeals court said the NFL's rules forcing Flores to submit his claims to arbitration before Goodell do not have the protection of the Federal Arbitration Act because they provide for "arbitration in name only."

The 2nd Circuit said the NFL constitution's arbitration provision "contractually provides for no independent arbitral forum, no bilateral dispute resolution, and no procedure."

"Instead, it offends basic presumptions of our arbitration jurisprudence" by forcing claims to be decided by the NFL's "principal executive officer," the appeals court said.

I really don't need to go over Deflategate again but I will note that in this story, a panel of judges declared that the NFL's arbitration process, with Goodell as the decider, is a joke.

This is what the initial judge said when he ruled in Brady's favor.

That decision was overturned by an appeals court who not only declared Goodell can make final decisions in a lawsuit against Goodell, but they also ridiculed Brady and revealed that they hadn't even read the most basic elements of the case. Judge Chang in particular showed absolutely no interest in reading about the details of the case. He just repeated whatever misconceptions he had gleaned from a cursory look at sensational media reports.

I want Flores to WIN this badly.

 

[sb1]

Court agrees Brian Flores' suit vs. NFL, 3 teams can go to trial

The NFL can be put on trial over civil claims that Brian Flores and other Black coaches face discrimination, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

www.espn.com

I really don't need to go over Deflategate again but I will note that in this story, a panel of judges declared that the NFL's arbitration process, with Goodell as the decider, is a joke.

This is what the initial judge said when he ruled in Brady's favor.

That decision was overturned by an appeals court who not only declared Goodell can make final decisions in a lawsuit against Goodell, but they also ridiculed Brady and revealed that they hadn't even read the most basic elements of the case. Judge Chang in particular showed absolutely no interest in reading about the details of the case. He just repeated whatever misconceptions he had gleaned from a cursory look at sensational media reports.

I want Flores to WIN this badly.

Was just gonna say that's quite a bit different than the 2nd Circuit's opinion in the Brady ruling that Goodell can do whatever he wants.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Was just gonna say that's quite a bit different than the 2nd Circuit's opinion in the Brady ruling that Goodell can do whatever he wants.

I made a comment about this in the general NFL news thread. The reason the ruling here is different is because courts strongly defer to union agreements, feeling unions have the ability to offset corporate power that individuals don’t. I see this all the time in my work - the DOL issues regulations which apply to non-union workforces but don’t apply to unions, feeling the government doesn’t need to be involved because the unions can fight corporations directly for protections. In general it’s true, and union workers tend to get higher pay and benefits than non-union workers, but then you can get dumb unions like the NFLPA that allows dumb arbitration clauses, which as we’re seeing offers less protection than general laws. Brady should be suing his union leadership for incompetence.

 

[Grogan14]

Now you know why Mayo was hired.
Kraft trying to protect the shield

 

[Vindicate]

I made a comment about this in the general NFL news thread. The reason the ruling here is different is because courts strongly defer to union agreements, feeling unions have the ability to offset corporate power that individuals don’t. I see this all the time in my work - the DOL issues regulations which apply to non-union workforces but don’t apply to unions, feeling the government doesn’t need to be involved because the unions can fight corporations directly for protections. In general it’s true, and union workers tend to get higher pay and benefits than non-union workers, but then you can get dumb unions like the NFLPA that allows dumb arbitration clauses, which as we’re seeing offers less protection than general laws. Brady should be suing his union leadership for incompetence.

Truly happy to see the heat on NFLPA leadership recently. They're the most clear example of the union being a third party in interest of the owners and ignoring the workers. The fact that it has commonly been said that "football players are too ideologically different to have a strong union" is the dumbest goddamn talking point and suggests that leadership is at the least not fighting anti-union sentiment, and even potentially exacerbating it.

On this note, though, I very hope to see Flores win, **** the owners.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It's going to be hard for him to win this. One of the biggest points of the case was the incentive to tank. If true, the question is why did Flores defy what ownership asked him to do? They had a chance at the #1 overall pick, but they beat Cincinnati and then followed that up with a meaningless win against NE knocking them out of the #2 seed. The Bengals took Joe Burrow at #1. Tom Brady said it best, winning meaningless games at the end of the season for morale are overrated. The following season doesn't care what you did last season. Not sure why HC's continue to do this.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

It's going to be hard for him to win this. One of the biggest points of the case was the incentive to tank. If true, the question is why did Flores defy what ownership asked him to do? They had a chance at the #1 overall pick, but they beat Cincinnati and then followed that up with a meaningless win against NE knocking them out of the #2 seed. The Bengals took Joe Burrow at #1. Tom Brady said it best, winning meaningless games at the end of the season for morale are overrated. The following season doesn't care what you did last season. Not sure why HC's continue to do this.

May be hard for him to win the case, but makes it much more likely the NFL settles. This opens the door for potential discovery. Same thing with the Gruden case.

 

[RobertWeathers]

May be hard for him to win the case, but makes it much more likely the NFL settles. This opens the door for potential discovery. Same thing with the Gruden case.

Agree. NFL would be wise to settle and have Flo sign an NDA. They are very good at those lol

 

[TheRainMaker]

May be hard for him to win the case, but makes it much more likely the NFL settles. This opens the door for potential discovery. Same thing with the Gruden case.

By "discovery", are your referring to the tanking allegations?

 

[everlong]

It's going to be hard for him to win this. One of the biggest points of the case was the incentive to tank. If true, the question is why did Flores defy what ownership asked him to do? They had a chance at the #1 overall pick, but they beat Cincinnati and then followed that up with a meaningless win against NE knocking them out of the #2 seed. The Bengals took Joe Burrow at #1. Tom Brady said it best, winning meaningless games at the end of the season for morale are overrated. The following season doesn't care what you did last season. Not sure why HC's continue to do this.

In 1981 Washington went 8-8 but finished 7-2 under new head coach Joe Gibbs. In 1982 they won the SB.

In 1959 the Packers went 7-5 winning their last 4 games under new head coach Vince Lombardi. They lost in the NFL Championship the next year and won it the year after that.

There are probably other examples. I just happened to know these two off the top of my head. If you're blowing the head coach out anyway than ya throw all the games. If you're trying to build something I think you instill the concept that losing is unacceptable. Mayo should have been fired so he couldn't win that game.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

By "discovery", are your referring to the tanking allegations?

Everything in Flores lawsuit - which includes tanking allegations as well as racial discrimination claims. There might be nothing to all that — but the NFL will have to turnover any and all documents even remotely related to that to Flores’ attorneys. That might take hundreds of hours for NFL internal and external attorneys to work on — imagine the NFL’s expense for that? And after that, Flores’ attorneys will have all the information and, for example, can “accidentally” leak anything that’s juicy.

And that’s just assuming the NFL is innocent. It would be 10x worse if Flores’ allegations are correct and something is actually documented about it and that gets turned over. This is why cases settle.

 

[n1997y]

By "discovery", are your referring to the tanking allegations?

Probably also owner collusion in general.

 

[Pape]

This is the second time in a week the NFL and its arbitration system has taken it on the chin...

last week, out of Nevada, the courts ruled that the arbitration clause is "unconscionable", allowing Gruden to proceed with his suit against the league... the NFL has appealed the ruling...

Nevada Supreme Court blocks arbitration of Jon Gruden's case against NFL, Roger Goodell

NFL undoubtedly will appeal to U.S. Supreme Court.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[Vindicate]

It's going to be hard for him to win this. One of the biggest points of the case was the incentive to tank. If true, the question is why did Flores defy what ownership asked him to do? They had a chance at the #1 overall pick, but they beat Cincinnati and then followed that up with a meaningless win against NE knocking them out of the #2 seed. The Bengals took Joe Burrow at #1. Tom Brady said it best, winning meaningless games at the end of the season for morale are overrated. The following season doesn't care what you did last season. Not sure why HC's continue to do this.

Tanking is at the detriment of the workers, that is the case. It forces players to lose and by losing they lose the ability to negotiate for what they believe is a fair wage/contract.

Tanking, by all definitions, is putting the ownership's interest before the well-being of their players, and willing disregards their fight for future employment, full stop. This includes coaches, FO staff, and more. It is an example of backroom bargaining and shortcuts at the expense of the worker.

If this is a labor-focused suit, then there are plenty of grounds to bring forward, argue, and win a case like this. The current hostility towards labor makes the outlook seem grim, but does nothing to suggest Flores doesn't have a very strong case.

**** tanking, it only serves the fans and owners.

 

[maust]

This is the second time in a week the NFL and its arbitration system has taken it on the chin...

last week, out of Nevada, the courts ruled that the arbitration clause is "unconscionable", allowing Gruden to proceed with his suit against the league... the NFL has appealed the ruling...

From the moment it first became public knowledge, the patent absurdity of Goodell being the final arbiter for appeal of a decision he handed down was obvious to outside observers. Yet the same language survived into another CBA, the NFLPA is the antithesis of what a union is supposed to be.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Tanking is at the detriment of the workers, that is the case. It forces players to lose and by losing they lose the ability to negotiate for what they believe is a fair wage/contract.

Tanking, by all definitions, is putting the ownership's interest before the well-being of their players, and willing disregards their fight for future employment, full stop. This includes coaches, FO staff, and more. It is an example of backroom bargaining and shortcuts at the expense of the worker.

If this is a labor-focused suit, then there are plenty of grounds to bring forward, argue, and win a case like this. The current hostility towards labor makes the outlook seem grim, but does nothing to suggest Flores doesn't have a very strong case.

**** tanking, it only serves the fans and owners.

The Dolphins didn't get their first win until week 9, so they already showed they clearly were incapable of winning when it mattered. Why win two pointless games late in the season? Owners aren't going to care their team won a couple games when they were eliminated by week 8 of the season. Joe Burrow possibly extends Brian Flores' future.

Same situation with Mayo last season. The team loses all those games during the season, but then all of the sudden wanted to win a meaningless week 18 game against 3rd stringers? The Pats now lost full control of the entire draft because of that. I think Mayo was fired prior to the game and he retaliated. You know if Mayo had confirmation that he was returning, he'd want that #1 overall pick to help him going forward. Winning that game only made Milton get louder to point where he was traded. Pats also got rid of some the "entitled" players.

 

[Pape]

the NFLPA is the antithesis of what a union is supposed to be.

the nflpa needs to take a lesson from baseball

 

[Ross12]

So that’s why Flo’s defense was so fired up today

 

[TommyD4207]

From the moment it first became public knowledge, the patent absurdity of Goodell being the final arbiter for appeal of a decision he handed down was obvious to outside observers. Yet the same language survived into another CBA, the NFLPA is the antithesis of what a union is supposed to be.

But now they only have 8 padded practices a year!

 

[pazrul72]

But now they only have 8 padded practices a year!

This is one thing I just can't wrap my head around. I know it was high school 25+ years ago but our whole team went to the University of Delaware for a week over the summer and had 3 padded practices a day. With crazy conditioning running after each one. I still shudder Everytime I hear green bay cuz that's what we called the worst one. (4) Of each distance 100 yards, then 90, then 80 so on and so forth to 10 yards where we would do as many as the coach felt we needed. Or monkey rolls where the entire team was jogging in a line and the last guy had to sprint to the front. Actually I can still hear a rb I wasn't super close to, behind me saying "c'mon man you can do it, keep it up" when I was starting to flag towards the end. Monsters were bad too, by class seniors first, ran sideline to sideline (50 yards) there, back, there, back so 200 yards total. I LOVED padded practices, hitting people was the best and I would give almost anything to go back to spending 3 days every week in pads after school. I'm sure as professional athletes they don't need the team conditioning the way we did and they do have a higher risk of injury but they've gone too far the other way IMO. I'd be bummed if I was an NFL player.