Flores’ attorneys file for reconsideration of arbitration order

Attorneys for Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and a number of other different plaintiffs have filed for reconsideration of a court docket order that shifted a few of their lawsuit in opposition to the NFL and a number of groups to the league’s arbitration course of.

In a request filed earlier this week with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals, Flores — together with fellow coaches Steve Wilks and Ray Horton — argued that the 2023 order ought to be reconsidered primarily based on an August ruling that discovered insurmountable flaws within the league’s arbitration course of. That call, Flores’ attorneys wrote on this week’s submitting, “constitutes definitive controlling regulation” over the earlier order.

“Any try by the NFL to additional delay and keep away from litigation of those claims ought to respectfully be rejected,” the attorneys wrote.

Flores sued the NFL and a number of other groups in January 2022, after he had been fired by the Miami Dolphins as their head coach and was within the technique of interviewing for different jobs. His unique declare accused the league of being “rife with racism,” significantly in its hiring and promotion of Black coaches.

Commonplace NFL teaching contracts requires disputes to be settled in an arbitration organized by the commissioner. Following the 2023 order, commissioner Roger Goodell named Peter C. Harvey because the arbitrator for the problems that had been shifted out of the lawsuit.

That arbitration course of has not progressed since an change of authorized briefs in December 2024, Flores’ attorneys mentioned of their submitting this week.

“As such,” they wrote, “your complete arbitration has been in a whole standstill and efficient keep.”

Flores spent the 2022 season as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier than becoming a member of the Vikings in 2023. He interviewed for head teaching positions with the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets after the 2024 season however didn’t advance out of the primary spherical of candidates for any of them.

A few of Flores’ claims led the NFL to strip the Dolphins of their first-round draft choose in 2023, amongst different disciplinary measures, for violations of league insurance policies regarding the integrity of the sport. Following a six-month investigation, the league discovered the Dolphins — primarily group proprietor Stephen Ross and vice chairman/restricted associate Bruce Beal — violated the anti-tampering coverage on three events from 2019 to 2022 in conversations with quarterback Tom Brady and the agent for then-New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.