Author: Joseph M. Hanna

Joseph M. Hanna is the founder and chair of Goldberg Segalla’s Sports and Entertainment Practice Group and editor of the Sports and Entertainment Law Insider blog. With a national practice and industry-wide reputation for leadership, Joe is consistently ranked among the top 10 attorneys based in Western New York in Business First’s annual Legal Elite, and in 2015, Joe was the youngest honoree ever to be named Lawyer of the Year in the Bar Association of Erie County’s 130-year history. He was named a Rising Star by Law360 in 2014 and is also a member of the Mediator Panel for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

June 25, 2015 NFL

Pump Up The Appeal: NFL Commissioner Hears Tom Brady’s Testimony

Last week, on June 23, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell presided over Tom Brady’s appeal of his four-game suspension in the “Deflategate” case. However, there is currently no timetable for a decision on the appeal, as the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Players Association calls for a decision “as soon as practicable.”

The four-game suspension arose out of an investigation into the “Deflategate” scandal, where footballs were found to have been deflated to below the permissible limit under league rules. Attorney Ted …

June 25, 2015 Litigation / NFL

Battle over Benefits: NFL Denies Claims it Wrongfully Withheld Payments to Retiree

The NFL is currently in the early stages of defending yet another lawsuit in connection with injuries allegedly sustained by a former athlete while playing in the NFL. In this case, Jesse Solomon – former linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Miami Dolphins – is seeking increased disability benefits for injuries he claims arose out of his time in the NFL.

Solomon claims that he has been denied approximately $100,000 in disability benefits per year due to his retirement plan’s …

June 23, 2015 Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / NFL

From Football to Cheerleading: Washington Redskins Voice Support for Band’s Trademark Case

By now, most people are aware that last summer, the United States Patent and Trademark Office canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration after finding the team’s name and logo to be disparaging to American Indians. Last week, however, the team took a serious interest in a lower-profile case involving a band called the Slants.

Previously, the USPTO refused the band’s two trademark applications, declaring that “slants” is disparaging to people of Asian descent. On Thursday, June 18, the team threw its support behind the band, …

June 22, 2015 MLB

Stealing Signs and More: Cardinals Owner Puts Blame for Data Breach on Support Staff

On Thursday, June 18, Bill DeWitt, owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, reportedly stated that the team support staff participated in the breach of the Houston Astros’ internal database. Currently, investigators are looking at four or five people in the Cardinals’ office, and they have reason to believe that the unauthorized access occurred as early as 2012, a year earlier than was previously known.

As of now, the breach does not appear to be very sophisticated, as investigators believe that Cardinals personnel simply examined a …

June 21, 2015 NCAA

Sandusky Scandal: NCAA Rebuts Claims Answer was Insufficient

The NCAA is currently playing defense in a lawsuit brought by the estate of the late Joe Paterno, former head coach of Penn State University’s football team. The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA failed to adequately deny defamation, along with other claims in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

The estate now argues that the NCAA’s answer failed to include sufficiently specific denials of the estate’s allegations, thus the estate should be granted final judgment. The NCAA responded, claiming that “[d]espite …

June 21, 2015 MLB

Bottom of the 9th: San Jose Appeals Ruling in Favor of MLB

In 2013, San Jose, California filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, claiming violations of anti-trust laws. Specifically, MLB has refused to allow the Oakland Athletics baseball team to move to San Jose, as it asserts that the city falls within the geographic territory of the San Francisco Giants. On Wednesday, MLB asked the United States Supreme Court to uphold decades-old precedent exempting baseball from antitrust laws.

The Ninth Circuit based its ruling on a ruling by the Supreme Court itself from 1922 which exempted …

June 20, 2015 Litigation

Privileged Communications: Lance Armstrong Opposes Requests for Williams & Connolly LLP Documents

In a False Claims Act lawsuit filed by former professional cyclist Floyd Landis, he recently made a motion requesting the production of communications between his former teammate Lance Armstrong, law firm Williams & Connolly LLP, and Capital Sports and Entertainment Holdings Inc. The lawsuit accuses Armstrong and others of violating a sponsorship agreement with the United States Postal Service by using performance-enhancing drugs. The agreement was worth $40 million.

Attorney-client privilege may be overcome by proof that the communications at issue were made in furtherance …

June 20, 2015 Litigation

Beastie Boys Lose the Fight for their Right…to Full Attorneys’ Fees

On Monday, a federal judge awarded the Beastie Boys far less in attorneys’ fees than they had hoped for. This follows a lawsuit filed by the Beastie Boys against energy drink company Monster Energy Co. for the company’s infringement on Beastie Boys’ songs in a promotional video.

The Beastie Boys had initially requested $2.4 million in attorneys’ fees after their $1.7 million victory over Monster Energy. Instead, the judge’s ruling gave the group $667,000. The judge’s reasoning behind this was that the Beastie Boys chose …

June 19, 2015 Litigation / NFL

Turnover on the Play: NFL Players Lose Rights to Jury Trial in Financial Lawsuit

A federal judge in Florida recently ruled that several NFL players in a $53 million lawsuit against Branch Banking & Trust Co. have forfeited their rights to a jury trial. Branch Banking & Trust Co. is the successor to BankAtlantic LLC, a company that plaintiffs allege wrongfully allowed Pro Sports Financial Inc., a financial management firm, to withdraw upwards of $53 million without their knowledge or consent.

The question of whether or not each player had waived rights to a jury trial came down to …

June 19, 2015 MLB

The Competitive Edge: Feds Set Sights on Cardinals for Astros Data Breach

Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday that the federal government is investigating the St. Louis Cardinals after the Houston Astros’ internal database – which stores information about player personnel and evaluations – was hacked. If St. Louis is found to be the perpetrator, it will be the first time in history that a professional sports team has been caught hacking into one of its rival’s networks.

Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill Dewitt Jr. issued a statement on Wednesday stating: “These are serious allegations that don’t …