Courtney Jorstad  |  May 18, 2015

Category: Consumer News

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NFL class action lawsuitA California federal judge has denied a motion saying that the NFL and Adidas AG unit Reebok International Ltd. is liable in an anti-trust class action lawsuit, alleging that Reebok hindered competition with its exclusive licensing agreement with the NFL.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila wrote in his order denying partial summary judgement that the motion filed by plaintiff Michael Villa should not have been filed before class certification is established, calling it “procedurally improper.”

Doing so would violate the so-called “one-way intervention” rule, in which “members of a class not yet certified can wait for the court’s ruling on summary judgement and either opt in to a favorable ruling or avoid being bound by an unfavorable one.” It is designed to “protect defendants from unfair ‘one-way intervention.'”

This is why Judge Davila said that the motion for partial summary judgment filed in February is “procedurally improper.”

According to the California federal judge, “the doctrine is ‘one-way’ because a plaintiff would not be bound by a decision that favors the defendant but could decide to benefit from a decision favoring the class.”

After the rule was added to the class certification process, Judge Davila explains, “the rule no longer left defendants vulnerable, as the California Supreme Court has vividly analogized, to ‘being pecked to death by ducks.'”

The way it would work before the rule was established is “‘one plaintiff could sue and lose; another could sue and lose; and another and another until one finally prevailed; then everyone else would ride on that single success,” the California federal judge added.

The plaintiffs had tried to argue that the NFL and Reebok had forgone their rights under the “one-way intervention” rule by trying to have the antitrust class action lawsuit dismissed once and requesting its own motion for summary judgement, but Judge Davila disagreed.

“Plaintiffs do not cite any judicial decisions applying waiver to one-way intervention under an analogous set of facts,” he explained. “Here, at the partial summary judgement stage, the one-way intervention rule is clearly applicable.”

The antitrust class action lawsuit was originally filed by plaintiff Patrick Dang, who purchased NFL-branded apparel. He alleged that the licensing deal that Reebok had made with the NFL in 2000. Under that agreement, Reebok had the only rights to sell NFL team logos on apparel, which resulted in inflated prices, and he was allegedly left with having to pay “anti-competitive” prices for the items that he purchased.

Dang is no longer part of the NFL antitrust class action lawsuit, due to apparent health issues. Villa is now seeking to represent the class.

Villa asked Judge Davila to certify the class in September. A hearing was held in April.

The plaintiff is represented by Roy A. Katriel of The Katriel Law Firm and Ralph B. Kalfayan of Krause Kalfayan Benink & Slavens LLP.

The NFL is represented by John S. Playforth, Gregg H. Levy, Derek Ludwin and Sonya D. Winner of Covington & Burling LLP. Reebok is represented by Joshua N. Holian and Michael J. Nelson of Latham & Watkins LLP and Timothy B. Hardwicke and Katherine S. Walton of GoodSmith Gregg & Unruh LLP.

The NFL Reebok Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is Dang v. San Francisco Forty Niners Ltd. et al., Case No. 5:12-cv-05481, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: The NFL, Reebok class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a Claim. 

UPDATE 2: On February 23, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers who filed timely and valid claims for the California NFL Apparel class action settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $63.15!

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2 thoughts onJudge Denies Motion to Rule NFL, Reebok Liable in Antitrust Class Action

  1. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE 2: On February 23, 2017, Top Class Actions viewers who filed timely and valid claims for the California NFL Apparel class action settlement began receiving checks worth as much as $63.15!

  2. Top Class Actions says:

    UPDATE: The NFL, Reebok class action settlement is now open! Click here to file a Claim. 

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