NEW YORK -- A federal judge put on hold a racketeering lawsuit filed by the former limited partners of the Montreal Expos against commissioner Bud Selig, telling them to go arbitration with their case against former Montreal owner Jeffrey Loria.

Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages of the U.S. District Court in Miami, who Wednesday denied a request by baseball's lawyers to throw out the suit based on venue, refused Friday to allow the case to go to trial in federal court.

Instead, the former limited partners' claims against Loria will be tried by three arbitrators selected from a list provided by the American Arbitration Association. The earliest the charges against Selig could go forward is after that case is decided -- if at all.

''We have believed from the outset that this lawsuit was just a partnership dispute masquerading as a (racketeering) claim so that the Canadian partners could obtain publicity,'' said Robert Kheel, a lawyer for the commissioner's office. ''Their complaints are really about how the plaintiffs' partnership interests were treated. The Canadian partners agreed that any disputes about their partnership would be dealt with in arbitration, and not in court.''

Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer for the limited partners, said he also was happy with the decision. An arbitration case was filed last summer against the corporations owned by Loria, who sold the Expos and bought the Florida Marlins.

Kessler said Loria and David Samson, the former Expos executive who currently is the Marlins' president, would be added personally to the arbitration case next week.

''Sometimes, you want one thing and what you get is another and it turns out real well,'' Kessler said. ''We didn't think we could arbitrate individually against Samson and Loria because they were shielded.''

Brad Ruskin, Loria's lawyer, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The 14 former minority owners of the Expos sued Selig, baseball chief operating officer Bob DuPuy, Loria and others in July under federal racketeering laws, accusing them of mail fraud and wire fraud and alleging they conspired to eliminate the Expos.

Ungaro-Benages said that if the limited partners decided to seek an injunction, they could come back to federal court. Kessler has said that if baseball attempts to move or sell the Expos, the limited partners would seek a court order to block it.

He would not say if his side would try to stop baseball's plan to have the Expos play 20 home games next year in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That proposal, which needs the approval of the players' association, could be put to a vote when baseball owners meet Wednesday in Irving, Texas.

''I'd have to see the details of the plan,'' Kessler said.

Loria sold the Expos earlier this year to the other 29 teams and bought the Marlins from John Henry, who headed the group that purchased the Boston Red Sox. The former limited partners of the Expos said Loria's actions had taken their 76 percent share of the Expos and made it a to 6 to 7 percent share of the Marlins.

Still pending are motions by baseball's lawyers to dismiss the case for lack of merit, to allow Selig to decide the case as the arbitrator under baseball's rules and to disqualify the plaintiffs' lawyers, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.