Wed May 19, 2010 4:27pm EDT reuters
Jets fan had sought $184.8 million damages, Patriots
stealing of signals alleged to defraud fans
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - A New York Jets football fan cannot pursue his
$184.8 million lawsuit over the secret videotaping of signals from Jets coaches
by archrival New England Patriots, a federal appeals court ruled.
Wednesday's unanimous ruling by a panel of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld a lower court dismissal of the lawsuit by Carl Mayer, a
Princeton, New Jersey, lawyer with Jets season tickets, in a scandal known as "Spygate."
Mayer said he plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Consumers are being taken advantage of when an organization like the
Patriots engages in a systematic fraud," he said in an interview.
The case arose from the videotaping by a Patriots employee of signals from
the Jets sideline in a Sept. 9, 2007, game.
The Patriots won 38-14, but the National Football League later fined the
team and coach Bill Belichick, and stripped it of a 2008 first-round draft pick.
Mayer sought damages of $61.6 million representing the cost of tickets for
Jets-Patriots games at Giants Stadium from 2000 through 2007, covering
Belichick's tenure as coach, and wanted that sum tripled under federal
racketeering laws.
He alleged the games were essentially rigged and raised a separate claim
against the NFL for destroying the videotapes.
But the appeals court said ticket-holders possess only licenses or
contractual rights to see games, and that it is up to the NFL to enforce its own
rules if something goes amiss.
"We do not condone the conduct on the part of the Patriots and the team's
head coach, and we likewise refrain from assessing whether the NFL's sanctions
(and its alleged destruction of the videotapes themselves) were otherwise
appropriate," Judge Robert Cowen wrote for the court.
He said that, while unhappy fans can vent frustration by speaking out
against the Patriots, Belichick or the league, or refusing to buy tickets or NFL
merchandise, "the one thing they cannot do is bring a legal action in a court of
law."
INVITATION TO CHEAT, OR FRIVOLOUS CLAIM?
Lee Marshall, a litigation partner at Bryan Cave LLP in San Francisco, said
courts are "basically closing doors" to fans seeking to sue over on-field rules
violations.
"If decisions went the other way, leagues would be defending lawsuits all
over," he said. "In baseball, it could result in fans suing over steroids
violations."
Bruce Afran, a lawyer working with Mayer, said Wednesday's ruling "invites
professional teams to cheat, without liability to fans who pay to support them.
It strikes us as very strange that one can spend tens of thousands of dollars
for season tickets and have no right to be protected from fraud."
Daniel Goldberg, a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston representing
the Patriots, said the ruling is consistent with other case law.
"We always viewed this as a frivolous lawsuit, brought to the court by a
Jets season ticket holder who happens to be a lawyer," Goldberg said in a
statement.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello added: "The decision speaks for itself."
Mayer, 51, said he has had Jets season tickets since 2006, but tried to sue
on behalf of a wider class.
The case is Mayer v. Belichick et al, U.S. Third
Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 09-02237.
Bill Belichick Confirmed As New England Patriots Spygate Leader, But No Outrage?
By
(Featured Columnist) on November 29, 2010
Pete Rose was banned from baseball for betting on his own team.
Belichick supervised cheating for years, cheating that could very possibly
have allowed his team to steal three Super Bowl championships and affected
the outcome of numerous games (not to mention the betting line), yet he is
still actively employed in the NFL.
Now some people may have already believed this
about Mr. Belichick, but the NFL has come out and said it. So when we talk
about Belichick, we shouldn't first say he is a great coach or a three-time
Super Bowl champion. No, the first thing we should think of and say is what
the NFL admitted this past week. Bill
Belichick is one of the game's greatest
cheaters.
Pete Rose has nothing on you, Mr. Belichick. Nothing at all.
Updated: December
30, 2010, 3:42 PM ET
Jets fan still pushes 'Spygate'
suit
PRINCETON, N.J. -- A New Jersey lawyer wants the nation's
top court to review his lawsuit stemming from the New
England Patriots' 2007 "Spygate" scandal.
Carl Mayer is a New
York Jets season ticket-holder. He and two other
lawyers filed the class-action lawsuit.
They announced Thursday that they had filed a petition asking the high court to
review the case.
The lawsuit seeks millions of dollars from the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick,
claiming they deceived customers by secretly videotaping Jets coaches' in-game
signals. It claims fans spent large sums to see games that were essentially
rigged.
A U.S. District Court judge and a federal appeals panel both dismissed the suit.
The NFL fined the Patriots and Belichick $750,000.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Check out wikipedia's
take here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_National_Football_League_videotaping_controversy
I'm not bitter ... really
OK where was I...
Went to Mall of America to hang out then to
Senser's Bloomington. Great trip with a very cold MN weekend.
Vikings locker room MOA
Tailgating
KFAN's pregame. Host Joe Anderson (L) and Dan Barreiro
Joe (L), P.A. & Greg Coleman
KFAN's sideline reporter and former Vikings punter Greg
Coleman
With Vikings Mascot Ragnar.
Inside the dome
The Game
