August 27, 2025

Flag on the Play: Or, How You Must Come Correct in Federal Court

By Laura Trachtman

It’s almost football season! Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged! We have drama associated with claims against the NFL for discrimination! It’s an exciting time to be a football fan. 

In a 100-page First Amended Complaint, “on February 1, 2022, Coach Brian Flores—who is now joined by Coach Steve Wilks and Coach Ray Horton—filed this class action lawsuit against the National Football League (“NFL” or the “League”) and its member teams.  The suit alleged, and continues to allege, systemic racial discrimination in the hiring, retention and termination of NFL coaches and executives.” 

If you didn’t know (and I did not, so I looked it up), Brian Flores was the Head Coach for the Miami Dolphins, Steve Wilks was the Head Coach for the Arizona Cardinals, and Ray Horton was the Defensive Backs Coach for the Washington Redskins. The case’s venue is in the Southern District of New York, which is where the NFL maintains its headquarters, and the causes of action are an interesting mix of federal and state: Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, New York State Human Rights Law, New York City Human Rights Law, New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and Florida Private Whistleblower Statute. 

(Side Note: I’m always interested in why a plaintiff would ground a discrimination lawsuit in the federal statutes, where the requirements to prove discrimination are so much more stringent than under the New York’s statutes, and there are filing requirements with the EEOC that must be satisfied, but that’s another blog post for another day.) 

Moving past my skeptical feelings about how OF COURSE the NFL discriminates against people of color – I didn’t even realize that there were Black head coaches aside from Mike Tomlin, of the Pittsburgh Steelers – some lawyer in Southern California managed to get himself into biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig trouble with a District Court Judge in this case. False start, ten yard penalty! 

Michael Caspino appeared as attorney for Wilks in January 2025, and then withdrew as Wilks’ counsel in June 2025. Unfortunately, there appear to have been some inconsistencies associated with Mr. Caspino’s Notice of Appearance, which resulted in Judge Valerie E. Caproni issuing the following on June 17, 2025: 

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Mr. Caspino is ordered to show cause by July 7, 2025, why the Court should not refer him to the disciplinary panel of this Court to consider whether he should be sanctioned for his conduct. As part of that submission, Mr. Caspino is required to provide a certificate of good standing from each state in which he is a member of the bar and explain, under oath: 1) how he was able to file a Notice of Appearance in the Southern District of New York on ECF despite not being a member of the bar for the Southern District of New York; 2) why his signature block in filings at docket entries 135 and 136 states “Pro Hac Vice Pending” despite the fact that Mr. Caspino never filed a motion to be admitted Pro Hac Vice in the Southern District of New York; 3) why he represented in the notice of appearance that he is “admitted or otherwise authorized to practice in this court” when it appears that it not accurate; 4) why as of June 17, 2025, his website (https://www.pricecaspino.com/michael-caspino) continues to represent falsely that he is a member of the Arizona bar; and 5) unless he has provided a certificate of good standing from the bars of California, Colorado, and Nevada, why, as of June 17, 2025, his website represents he is a member of the bars of those states. If Mr. Caspino fails to provide at least one certificate of good standing from the bar of at least one state, his submission must also address why a criminal referral for the unauthorized practice of law is not appropriate. 

TL; DR: Judge Caproni is BIG MAD at Mr. Caspino for his misstatements of fact as to his credentials.

If you thought that the Judge would let it go after Mr. Caspino filed a letter on July 7, 2025, correcting misstatements of fact in his Notice of Appearance (that he had applied for admission in SDNY pro hac vice, which he had not) and on his website that he was admitted to the bars of certain states (AZ, CA, NV and CO, two of which he was no longer a member of), you were wrong. The Judge doubled down on July 9, 2025, with this Order:

ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Mr. Caspino is ordered to explain, under oath, how he was able to file a Notice of Appearance in SDNY on ECF despite not being a member of the SDNY bar and to provide a Certificate of Good Standing from the California Bar by no later than July 31, 2025. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, also not later than July 31, 2025, Mr. Caspino must provide a more complete explanation of how he came to represent falsely that he was “admitted or otherwise authorized to practice in this court;” when it was decided that he would not represent Mr. Wilks in this action; why he thought it appropriate to state that admission pro hac vice was pending when no motion had been made; when his membership in the bars of Nevada and Colorado lapsed; when he was reinstated to the Arizona Bar and proof from the Arizona Bar that he has, in fact, been reinstated; and why he should not be referred to the disciplinary panel of this Court in light of his admitted misrepresentations to the Court. 

Mr. Caspino filed another letter on July 31, 2025, providing a Certificate of Good Standing from the CA Bar and a letter from the AZ Bar, but the Judge still didn’t let it go: on August 5, 2025, she entered the following Order. 

ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Mr. Caspino is ordered to appear in person for a hearing on August 25, 2025 at 10:30 A.M. in Courtroom 20C of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, New York, New York, 10007 and be prepared to explain under oath: (i) how he obtained ECF filing privileges in this Court without being admitted to practice in this Court; (ii) how he came to represent falsely in the Notice of Appearance that he was admitted or otherwise authorized to practice in this court, Dkt. 135; (iii) when it was decided that he would not represent Mr. Wilks in this action; (iv) why he thought it appropriate to represent that admission pro hac vice was pending when no motion had been made, Dkt. 135, 136; (v) whether he has previously filed notices of appearance in any other court falsely representing that he was admitted or otherwise authorized to practice in this court, even though he was not and, if so, in what cases and in what jurisdictions; and (vi) why he failed to respond fully to either of the orders issued by this Court, Dkts. 138, 140. 

Another letter from Mr. Caspino on August 21, 2025, and on August 22, 2025, the Court filed the following Order:  

By no later than August 22, 2025 at 12:00 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Mr. Caspino must provide the Court with the name of the case, case number, the presiding judge, and a copy of the Order scheduling the August 25, 2025 court appearance in Orange County Superior Court that he referenced in his declaration. Mr. Caspino’s declaration makes multiple references stating that he has “voluntarily complied with the Court’s Order” and “voluntarily provided answers,” which suggests that he does not consider that he is subject to the jurisdiction of the Southern District of New York. He is clearly mistaken. The grievance committee of the Southern District of New York may discipline “[a]ny attorney not a member of the bar of this court [who] has appeared at the bar of this court without permission to do so,” Local Civ. R. 1.5(b)(6), and the grievance committee may discipline “any attorney” who, “in connection with activities in this court,” engages in “conduct violative of the New York State Rules of Professional Conduct,” Local Civ. R. 1.5(b)(5).

At this point, this lawsuit has totally deteriorated into a war between this poor schlub from California and the District Court Judge, who is having absolutely none of his nonsense. There hasn’t been a filing related to the merits of this case for literally months; it’s just Caspino and Judge Caproni going at it hammer and tongs. 

The latest filings memorialize that Judge Caproni Ordered Caspino to appear on August 25, and he claimed that he had a conflict, so she Ordered him to appear on August 26, and he claimed to have yet another conflict, and she refused to allow him to appear other than in person. He did not appear before her in person on August 26, 2025 at 2:30pm, and so she issued the following Order:

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Mr. Caspino is ordered to show cause why he should not be held in contempt and sanctioned accordingly for his failure to appear at the show cause hearing scheduled for August 26, 2025. By no later than noon EST, August 28, 2025, Mr. Caspino must provide three dates during the last two weeks of September 2025 on which he is available to appear in-person in the Southern District of New York for the show cause hearing. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if Mr. Caspino wishes to submit a memorandum of law or other materials in connection with any of the orders to show cause that are pending, including the current order to show cause why he should not be held in contempt and sanctioned accordingly, all such materials must be filed no later than September 12, 2025. SO ORDERED.

And that, my friends, is why you never, ever, ever, ever, mess with a federal judge. Touchdown!