## Facts

- The NFL Commissioner issued an arbitration award in New York on July 28, 2015, upholding a four-game suspension of Tom Brady.
- The NFL Management Council filed an action in the Southern District of New York on July 28, 2015, seeking to confirm the arbitration award under federal labor and arbitration statutes.
- The NFLPA filed a petition in the District of Minnesota on July 29, 2015, seeking to vacate the same arbitration award.
- The NFL moved in Minnesota to transfer or dismiss the later-filed Minnesota action based on the first-to-file rule and related venue considerations.
- The Minnesota proceeding concerned only which federal forum should adjudicate disputes over the arbitration award, not the merits of the suspension.

## Issues

1. Whether the District of Minnesota should retain the NFLPA’s later-filed petition to vacate the arbitration award or transfer it to the Southern District of New York under the first-to-file rule.
2. Whether any “compelling circumstances,” including asserted forum shopping, justified departing from the first-to-file rule.

## Decision

- The court transferred the Minnesota action to the Southern District of New York.
- The court treated the New York confirmation action as the first-filed, parallel case involving substantially the same parties and the same arbitration award.
- The court found no sufficient basis to disregard the first-to-file rule.

## Legal Principles

- Under the federal first-to-file rule, when substantially similar actions involving substantially the same parties and issues proceed in different federal courts, the court of the later-filed action generally should defer to the first-filed court by staying, dismissing, or transferring the later action absent compelling circumstances.
- Transfer under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) may be used to avoid duplicative litigation and inconsistent rulings and to serve convenience and the interest of justice.
- Allegations of forum shopping, without more, do not necessarily constitute “compelling circumstances” sufficient to overcome first-to-file deference.

## Conclusion

The District of Minnesota declined to adjudicate the NFLPA’s petition to vacate the arbitration award and transferred the case to the Southern District of New York because an earlier-filed, parallel action concerning the same award was already pending there and no compelling reason justified departure from the first-to-file rule.


Nat’l Football League Players Ass’n v. Nat’l Football League Mgmt. Council, No. 15-CV-3168 (D. Minn. July 30, 2015)