Sports Leagues and NCAA Challenge Christie’s Sports Bill

Four major professional sports leagues and the NCAA (collectively the “leagues”) responded to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s partial repeal of New Jersey’s ban on sports betting. The leagues filed a federal lawsuit on Monday seeking a temporary injunction on sports betting in New Jersey. The state’s first sports bet is scheduled for Sunday at Monmouth Park racetrack, where ten tellers will be taking bets on the NFL.

The leagues argue that Governor Christie’s sports betting bill accomplishes

“what it unsuccessfully attempted to do

October 20, 2014 Legislation

Sports Betting in New Jersey Now in Gov. Christie’s Hands

On Thursday, October 16, the New Jersey State Assembly passed along a bill seeking to repeal the State’s prohibitions on sports betting. The bill currently awaits signature or veto by Governor Chris Christie.

Sports betting has been a legislative concern since a majority of voters approved a betting referendum back in 2011. Christie approved the subsequent law in 2012, which legalized sports betting within the state. In response, the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA sued claiming the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act …

October 17, 2014 Defamation

‘Birdman’ Production Company Under Attack by Former CEO & Founder

Worldview Entertainment’s much anticipated black comedy, ‘Birdman’ opens in theaters this Friday amid great legal turmoil. Former CEO and founder, Chris Woodrow, fired back at the production company that fired him with a lawsuit claiming defamation.

Earlier this month, Woodrow’s business partner at Worldview Entertainment, Maria Cestone, brought a lawsuit against the founder claiming misappropriation of funds. Cestone accused Woodrow and his wife of embezzling more than $700,000 to pay for personal trips to Halifax and Lake Placid and to pay for …

October 16, 2014 Advertising / Copyright / Intellectual Property, Copyright, and Trademark / Trademark

“World’s Most Interesting” Case Settled

On Monday, the parties in the “World’s Most Interesting” trademark suit filed a stipulation to dismiss the suit. In 2013, the Mexican brewer of Dos Equis beer filed a trademark and copyright infringement suit against KCI, Inc. (“KCI”), a New Jersey company that offers storage area network (SAN) maintenance services, over its advertising campaign themed “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” a U.S. registered trademark of the brewer.

The complaint alleged that KCI filed trademark applications for the marks “The Most Interesting SAN Architect …

October 15, 2014 Concussions / NFL

Dave Duerson’s Family Objects NFL Settlement Proposal

The family of Dave Duerson, the former Chicago Bears defensive back, filed an objection of the NFL settlement offer that was preliminarily approved in July 2014. The families of David Duerson and Forrest Blue with 8 other former players named in the objection stated that the NFL concussion settlement “disenfranchises the families who will inevitably suffer the horrific ramifications of CTE” because the proposed plan excludes players who are diagnosed with the disease after July 7, 2014, the date of the court’s preliminary approval. In …

October 14, 2014 NFL / Rights

Judge Dismisses Publicity Rights Lawsuit by Former NFL Players

A federal judge in Minnesota nixed a lawsuit brought by three former NFL players Fred Dryer (LA Rams), Elvin Bethea (Houston Oilers), and Ed White (Minnesota Vikings) who claimed that the NFL violated their publicity rights in using video clips of them playing football. The players had opted out of a $50 million settlement offered in a class action suit over publicity rights of athletes.

U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson found the NFL Films’ productions that featured game footage of Ram, Oilers, and Vikings were …

October 13, 2014 Labor & Employment

Interns vs. The Wendy Williams Show

The landmark 2013 decision in Glatt v. Fox Searchlight Pictures that interns on two film production crews were entitled to payment with actual wages has opened the litigation floodgates. In the hotly debated ruling, Judge William H. Pauley III held that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying its interns.

In the latest example of the ongoing debate over the use of unpaid interns, television’s Wendy Williams Show and production company Lionsgate have been sued for wages by a former …

October 10, 2014 Litigation / NCAA

Judge Wilken Keeps Scholarship Lawsuits Against NCAA Alive

On Thursday, October 9, Northern District of California Judge, Claudia Wilken, denied the NCAA’s motion to dismiss pending class action lawsuits against it for scholarship related antitrust violations.

The NCAA filed its motion to dismiss the cases after the same judge, Claudia Wilken, ruled against the NCAA in the O’Bannon case finding the association was in violation of antitrust laws for its denial of player compensation. The NCAA argues here that the Alston and Jenkins cases should be dismissed as the issue of player scholarships …

October 9, 2014 Legislation / NCAA

NCAA Fights PA Law to Spread Penn State’s Sandusky Fine Nationwide

On Monday, October 6, the NCAA filed a motion in federal court, asking to have a newly enacted Pennsylvania law, which manipulates the Penn State Sandusky fine, invalidated as it is unconstitutional.

The NCAA’s motion is directed at the Institution of Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act, which was enacted in 2013 in response to a fine levied against Penn State University. In 2012, the NCAA and Penn State agreed to a Consent Decree penalizing the university for the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal. …

October 8, 2014 NCAA

Court Nixes NCAA-PSU’s Attempt to Dismiss Lawsuit over $60M Fine

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court denied the NCAA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by state Senator Jake Corman and Treasurer Rob McCord. The suit is seeking to enforce the 2012 Higher Education Monetary Penalty Endowment Act (the “Act”) on the $60 million fine imposed on Penn State (“PSU”). In the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal, the NCAA in 2012 imposed the penalty as part of a consent decree. Under the Act, the NCAA fine must be used to prevent child sexual abuse …

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