Federal court rejects yet another attempt by NFL to send Brian Flores case to arbitration

When it comes to the NFL's effort to send the Brian Flores case to arbitration, it's apparently not over until the NFL says it's over.Regardless, the presiding judge has now made it abundantly clear that it's over.Despite a court ruling and an appeals court ruling that the claims brought by Brian Flores (against the Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and Texans), Ray Horton (against the Titans), and Steve Wilks (against the Cardinals) must be decided in court, the NFL filed a motion to reconsider the ruling that slammed the door on arbitration.

On Wednesday, Judge Valerie Caproni denied the NFL's latest motion.The 15-page ruling begins with an expression of exasperation regarding the nearly four-and-a-half-year-old litigation: "This case continues to linger at the starting block. Or, to use a more fitting metaphor, this case continues to linger as the teams mill about in the players' tunnels."

Elsewhere in the written decision, there are some not-so-subtle indications of the judge's impatience with the NFL's efforts to keep fighting over a settled issue. From page 9: "Defendants can articulate no reason why these arguments were not raised in their response to Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration. .

With sophisticated law firms, it is hard to fathom a plausible explanation."Also, from the same page: "Defendants opted for an iterative stream of arguments to buy themselves a few more months hanging out in the players' tunnels. .

"Putting it another way, and as a judge said to the opposing lawyer in a case I was handling more than 20 years ago, "At some point, you stop arguing to the court and start arguing with the court."Judge Caproni's order concludes like this: "Defendants' seemingly-never-ending list of arguments why they should not have to litigate this case has run its course. Stepping back, while Defendants are free to spend endless attorneys' fees to pursue the forum they think will be most advantageous to them, arguments about the superior efficiencies of arbit