October 25, 2019 Advertising / Class Actions / Hockey / Litigation / NHL / Privacy Rights

TCPA Lawsuit Against Tampa Bay Lightning Reaches Class Settlement

A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against the Tampa Bay Lightning, in which a fan claimed that the NHL team violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by flooding him with unwanted text messages.

Plaintiff Brian Hanley claimed that the team violated the TCPA by using a bait-and-switch tactic. Hanley was under the impression that he had entered a ticket contest for a future Lightning game by texting a short code number. Instead, he had inadvertently signed up for an advertising …

September 19, 2018 Advertising / NFL / Privacy Rights / Rights

NFL Sued by Former Athletes over Pro Bowl Promotionals

World Sports Alumni Inc. (WSA), a sports marketing firm, is suing the NFL and a chapter of the National Football League Alumni Association (NFLAA) over the use of former athletes’ names and pictures in promotional advertisements without their permission.

WSA alleges that the NFL and NFLAA depicted retired NBA player Nick Anderson, retired NFL player Brandon Meriweather, and retired heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe to promote the Pro Bowl events without the former athletes’ knowledge or consent. The complaint states that, in December 2017, NFLAA …

January 19, 2018 Litigation / NFL / Privacy Rights

San Francisco 49ers Must Hand Over Attendee Information

On January 5, 2017, Judge Susan van Keulen granted a class of mobility-disabled persons, suing the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara, request for information about people who purchased accessible seating tickets at Levi’s Stadium. The suit originally began in December 2016 when Abdul Nevarez sued the San Francisco 49ers and the city of Santa Clara, owners of Levi’s Stadium, for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Nevarez, who requires the use of a wheelchair for mobility, attended four games …

September 20, 2016 Litigation / Privacy Rights

Fans Sue Golden State Warriors for Mobile Eavesdropping

Golden State Warrior fans filed a class action lawsuit in federal court against the team and the companies who developed the team’s mobile app. The plaintiffs allege that the app unlawfully records audio from the microphone without user notification or permission, and that while the app is marketed for providing live stats, scores, and standings, it also tracks users through audio-based beacon technology for the purpose of marketing and advertising. The app determines a user’s precise physical location by secretly activating the user’s smartphone’s built-in …

May 3, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

On Heels of Unprecedented Win, Hogan Files New Sex Tape Suit

On Monday May 2, 2016, wrestling icon and reality-television celebrity Hulk Hogan filed another civil suit in Florida state court over the alleged distribution of a sex tape featuring the wrestler. According to the complaint, Hogan accuses Gawker Media, LLC (the gossip website whom he had just secured a $140 million jury verdict against in March), and a slew of individual defendants of intentionally interfering with his career in the WWE by obtaining and releasing a sex tape recorded without his consent. The tape …

March 23, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

Gawker Bodyslammed with Another $25M, Hogan Award Jumps to $140M Total

In what should come as no surprise to anyone following the case, jurors in the Hulk Hogan right to privacy civil suit against gossip-site Gawker, which was brought over release and publication of a 2006 sex tape involving the wrestling superstar, hit the media company with another $25 million judgment late Monday afternoon on March 21, 2016. The award was for punitive damages, an extra penalty that can be handed out in certain cases where it is found a person went above and beyond conscionable …

March 21, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

Hulk Hogan Awarded $115 Million in Bout Against Gawker

On Friday, March 18, 2016, after only about six hours of deliberation, a jury of four women and two men hit gossip-site Gawker with a $115 million damages verdict against it in the Hulk Hogan civil suit over right of privacy and publicity charges. The award, which was handed down on the same day that attorneys for both sides delivered their closing statements, included $55 million in economic damages and $60 million in noneconomic damages. Hogan had been seeking $100 million in total from the …

March 18, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

Gawker Tries One Final Takedown of Hulk Hogan’s Persona as Trial Nears End

On Thursday, March 17, 2016, Gawker Media LLC, the defendant in a $100 million right of privacy trial brought by wrestling icon and American hero Hulk Hogan over the news site’s publication of a sex tape featuring the Hulkster, made one last stand to the jury on the ninth day of trial and on the eve of closing statements. In keeping consistent with the argument it’s made throughout the trial—that the celebrity and former WWE star Hogan repeatedly bragged about and discussed issues of his …

March 18, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

Hulk Hogan Trial Update: Jury Hears Lover’s Testimony

Jurors in the $100 million invasion of privacy trial between wrestling superhero Hulk Hogan and gossip-site Gawker heard the previously recorded deposition of Heather Cole — formerly Heather Clem, ex-wife of radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge — better known as the woman Hogan was caught having an affair with in a secretly videotaped intimate rendezvous dating back to 2006. She testified that her former husband told her to have sex with Hogan but never informed her that the encounter was going to be filmed. …

March 16, 2016 Celebrities / Litigation / Privacy Rights

Real or Fake? Attorneys in Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Trial Showing Litigation Can Be as Entertaining as Wrestling

The Hulk Hogan sex tape civil trial against gossip-site Gawker ended its sixth day of in-court proceedings Monday, March 14, 2016. The case itself is being heavily covered by the media, with defendant Gawker even livestreaming the trial on its website, and comes out of an incident in which the media company published an edited, unsolicited version of a sexual encounter between wrestling-icon Hogan and his former best friend’s wife, Heather Clem. According to Hogan, the affair happened in 2006, and although the rendezvous was …