SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A federal judge halted a lawsuit by Bad Bunny’s sports representation firm against the Major League Baseball Players Association, ruling Thursday the case should be heard by an arbitrator.
Rimas Sports, under its corporate name Diamond Sports LLC, sued in mid-May asking for a restraining order against the union that would allow it to keep working with the company’s clients.
U.S. District Judge Camille L. Vélez-Rivé issued a 23-page order granting a motion by the players’ association to compel arbitration under the union’s regulations.
“The court finds that there are no issues of fact in this case regarding arbitrability, thus allowing the court to summarily dispose of the present controversy at the pre-trial stage,” Vélez-Rivé wrote.
The union issued a notice of discipline to Rimas agents William Arroyo, Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda on April 10 and fined them $400,000 for misconduct. Arroyo, an agent certified by the union to represent players, was decertified. His clients included Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and teammate Ronny Mauricio. Assad and Miranda were told they could not apply for certification.
Arbitrator Ruth M. Moscovitch is scheduled to hear an appeal by Arroyo.
Rimas claimed in federal court that the union’s actions were beyond the scope of its authority to regulate agents.
“The regulations clearly and unmistakably delegate to the arbitrator ample power to decide his or her own jurisdiction, any objections as to the existence, scope or validity of the arbitration agreement, as well as the existence or validity of the regulations themselves,” Vélez-Rivé wrote.
Rimas disagreed with the decision.
“We believe that the Major League Baseball Players Association’s actions violate the National Labor Relations Act and require additional legal scrutiny,” the company said in a statement. “There are serious concerns surrounding the arbitrary nature of MLBPA’s decision to unilaterally expand its regulatory powers and the significant inconsistencies in the application of its disciplinary practices.”
Rimas said the union amended its regulations after starting its investigation of the company and seems “to be directly targeting Rimas, the agency which represents a disproportionate number of Latino players.”
The union did not comment on the decision.
