Plaintiffs’ hopes of extending the foul ball safety net further down the first- and third-base lines at all 30 Major League Baseball stadiums were dashed recently when a California U.S. District Court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing. The plaintiffs’, Oakland Athletics fan Gail Payne and Los Angeles Dodgers fan Stephanie Smith, claim that the extension of the safety net was required to protect fans from injuries caused by foul balls and broken bats, but U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers found the …
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Native American Groups File Brief in Support of Trademark Office’s Ban on Disparaging Trademarks
On November 16, 2016, Native American organizations, including the National Congress of American Indians, filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO) ban on offensive and disparaging trademarks. The statute at issue before the Supreme Court is Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1052(a), which provides that no trademark will be refused registration because of content unless, inter alia, the trademark “[c]onsists of . . .matter[s] which may disparage . . . …
Continue ReadingNo Property Tax on Government-Owned Stadiums in New Jersey
As of November 21, 2016, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has amended New Jersey tax law to clarify that government-owned stadiums and arenas are exempt from property taxation.
The signing of this bill quells uncertainty following a decision by a New Jersey tax court which denied a non-profit hospital its tax benefits last year. The court’s decision was focused in part on the hospital’s mix of non-profit and for-profit activity. Up until this point, it was not clear whether the decision would bring forth similar …
Continue ReadingAll-American High School Lacrosse Player Brings Lawsuit Against Performance Sports Group LTD for Head Injuries
Melinda Avery, an all-American High School lacrosse player, filed a lawsuit against Performance Sports Group LTD, after sustaining head injuries as a result of a defectively designed lacrosse helmet. Avery, the star goalie of her high school lacrosse team, was struck in the head by a lacrosse ball in April, 2014, while wearing a “Cascade Model R helmet.” In her complaint, Avery argues that the helmet failed to meet the minimum safety guidelines imposed by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment …
Continue ReadingHarvard Men’s Soccer Gets the ‘Red Card;’ Season Cancelled in Wake of Sexual Ratings of Female Recruits
Harvard University suspended the remainder of the men’s soccer team’s season after it was revealed that members of the team, both past and present, compiled a yearly ‘scouting report’ of the women’s soccer team. The document, originally reported by The Crimson, Harvard University’s student-run newspaper, described the sexual attractiveness of the female soccer recruits. While the document was originally from 2012, the tradition of producing similar “reports” appears to be an annual occurrence through this season.
In this particular document, the author ranked the …
Continue ReadingLead Block: NFL Teams Rally to Pre-empt Jerry Jones and Jim Irsay Deposition Testimony
All 23 National Football League (NFL) teams are rallying behind two of their most notorious owners: Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, and Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts. In a letter written to U.S. District Judge William Alsup, the teams asked that Jones and Irsay be excused from giving deposition testimony in a case involving alleged wide-scale painkiller abuse. Specifically, the teams want a protective order imposed that would “at least [defer]” the two owners from giving deposition testimony.
The teams are …
Continue ReadingBlind Hockey Player Fighting to Keep Major Judgment Intact
A blind minor league hockey player—after being poked in the eye with a hockey stick—is now fighting to prevent a federal judge from reopening his case. Kyler Moje was injured in February 2012 while playing for the Danville Dashers, when the stick of another player got under his visor and struck his eye, blinding him. Moje never regained the ability to see and instituted the action against the Federal Hockey League LLC (FHL). After failing to respond to Moje’s lawsuit, a federal court in Illinois …
Continue ReadingNo Extra Innings: Cubs, MLB Reach Settlement With Apparel Vendors
On November 9, 2016, Major League Baseball and the Chicago Cubs reached a settlement with the 84 vendors accused of selling counterfeit MLB merchandise. In the motion, the Cubs declared that it had entered into a confidential settlement with the vendors and requested that the court issue a permanent injunction, preventing them from selling the merchandise in the future.
Due to the great success the Cubs experienced this season, a large number of fake apparel vendors began selling products with symbols resembling MLB marks, leading…
Continue ReadingArbitration Panel Finds Anti-Doping Policy Violation, Issues One-Year Suspension for Jon “Bones” Jones
On November 7, 2016, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that an independent three-member arbitration panel determined that UFC fighter Jon “Bones” Jones should receive the maximum one-year suspension for violating the UFC anti-doping policy. The ban is retroactive to when Jones’ test results were first issued on July 6, 2016, which means he will be eligible to return to the UFC beginning in July 2017.
Jones had argued that he believed he was taking a Cialis pill and had checked with USADA to …
Continue ReadingConcerns Over Efficacy of Historic CTE Settlement Reach the Supreme Court
Major fault-lines are coming to the fore in one of the most high-profile class action lawsuits dealing with the NFL and players affected by a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Earlier this month, a group of plaintiffs requested the Supreme Court of the United States refuse to review a pair of appeals, submitted by other plaintiffs, challenging the efficacy of an April 2015 settlement. Specifically, the appeals focus on the argument that the current settlement will not be “enough” for former players with …
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