On Thursday, August 28, the lead plaintiff in Dang v. San Francisco Forty Niners, Ltd., submitted a stipulation of voluntary dismissal with Judge Davila of the Northern District of California.
Patrick Dang, the lead plaintiff and class representative, has decided to withdraw from the lawsuit he waged against the NFL and Reebok citing health concerns that have begun in May of this year. The stipulated agreement allows for a withdrawal of plaintiff Dang and a dismissal of his individual claims without prejudice and without an award of costs or attorneys’ fees. The NFL’s agreement to the withdrawal comes with a contingency that plaintiff Dang be required to complete the previously served discovery requests including any supplemental requests that are required to fill any gaps in responses deemed incomplete.
The lawsuit, filed by Dang in October 2012, alleges that the NFL’s exclusive apparel licensing agreement with Reebok since 2000 creates unlawful conspiracies in violation of antitrust law. Plaintiff claims that consumers therefore pay anticompetitive overcharges on apparel bearing the NFL teams’ logos.
Plaintiff’s withdrawal, however, does not leave the class without representation. The other lead plaintiff, Michael Villa, will be the sole class representative. Plaintiff Villa’s deadline to file for class certification has thus been postponed until September nine, given the recent circumstances.