In her latest move in her battle with the NFL, Shayana Jenkins Hernandez (“Jenkins”), the former fiancée of late New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, refiled a lawsuit in state court against the NFL and Riddell, the NFL’s official helmet provider from 1989-2013. The claim alleges that the NFL was negligent in failing […]
A California appeals court has allowed a lawsuit brought by a Hollywood restaurant employee against Manny Pacquiao to proceed. Gabriel Rueda is demanding a finder’s fee for supposedly setting up the 2015 blockbuster boxing match with Floyd Mayweather. Rueda, also known as Gabriel Salvador,was an acquaintance of Pacquiao’s legendary trainer, Freddie Roach, because his son
TJ Gassnola, a former consultant for Adidas, testified on Wednesday that the shoe company paid the family of Deandre Ayton, a former basketball player for the University of Arizona and the first selection in the most recent NBA draft, before or during his collegiate career. Gassnola’s testimony comes during the opening week of the first
The family of legendary linebacker Junior Seau has settled its wrongful death lawsuit with the NFL for an undisclosed sum of money. Seau, who was 43 when he committed suicide in 2012, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalophy (CTE), the neurodegenerative disease that has been found in over one hundred deceased NFL players. The Seau family
In 2016, Take-Two, a video game company that is the creator of the NBA 2K series of video games, was sued by Solid Oak Sketches, a company who owns the copyright in several NBA players’ tattoos. Solid Oak argued that the video game series, which seeks to simulate the NBA, infringed on their copyright because
Law360 reported a Texas rock band’s representatives, Platinum Jack Entertainment Inc., filed suit against Chick-Fil-A Inc. and ESPN Inc. in Texas federal court on Tuesday. The suit alleges that the pair of companies stole a song from Dallas rock band Drayter for in the background of two commercials the companies released featuring the well-known Chick-Fil-A
This past week, Law360 reported that U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) executives filed a motion to dismiss in the North American Soccer League’s (NASL) suit in New York state courts. NASL filed suit in February alleging a breach of fiduciary duty and a purposeful scheme by USSF executives to undermine NASL while promoting the other major
On Tuesday, February 27, a 2-1 split Ninth Circuit panel rejected a copyright suit against Nike Inc. alleging the athletic company’s “Jumpman” logo infringed on a photographer’s copyright. The court ruled that the logo was not substantially similar enough to Jacobus Rentmeester’s photo of Jordan from a 1984 issue of LIFE magazine. Rentmeester originally had
In May 2016, a class of former college athletes sued FanDuel and DraftKings, alleging that the sites wrongfully profited from their likenesses. Relying on Indiana’s right of publicity statute, the former college athletes argued that FanDuel and DraftKings violated their right to control the commercial use of their own identities. The case was dismissed in district court by U.S. District Judge
On November 29, Devon Hammond filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Southern Mississippi (“Southern Miss”) for violating federal antidiscrimination law. Hammond alleges the school discriminated against him by refusing to let him play football after learning Hammond only has one kidney. Hammond, a former Louisiana State University (“LSU”) football recruit, transferred to
According to Sports Illustrated, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, has threatened to sue the National Football League (“NFL”) and other NFL franchise owners. Specifically, he has threatened to sue the owners of the Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, Houston Texans, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers, all members of the
