© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Sept. 12) – A federal appeals court has tossed out an appeal filed by football fans affected by the 2011 Super Bowl seating fiasco in Dallas who were unsatisfied with essentially every outcome of their lawsuit against the National Football League that went to trial last spring.
In a 25-page ruling filed Friday, a three-judge panel affirmed U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn’s decision to dismiss the Dallas Cowboys from the litigation, deny class certification to the plaintiffs and dismiss multiple claims by the fans on summary judgment. The fans also appealed Lynn’s decision to grant the NFL’s motion for directed verdict that prevented the jury from deciding punitive damages.
The case was originally brought as a class action seeking more than $100 million in damages. After class certification was denied, the cases of seven individual plaintiffs proceeded to trial.
The jury rejected the plaintiffs’ claims of fraud and awarded seven fans a collective total of $76,000 on their breach of contract claims. Four of the seven plaintiffs received less than the NFL had offered them prior to trial, and the trial court awarded the NFL its post-offer costs on those claims. The seven remaining plaintiffs sought about $97,000 collectively at trial.
“We find no error in the district court’s 12(b)(6), Rule 56 and directed verdict rulings. We also hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying to give appellants’ proposed jury instruction,” Judge Edith Jones wrote in the Fifth Circuit opinion. “Finally, in denying class certification, the district court carefully applied the class certification principles to each class, and we agree with its conclusions.”
The panel also included Chief Judge Carl Stewart and Judge James Dennis.
“The NFL is pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s decision, which upheld the district court’s rulings in the NFL’s favor in all respects,” NFL lead counsel Thad Behrens of Haynes and Boone said in an emailed statement.
Michael Avenatti, who represents the plaintiffs, indicated in an email that his clients are not giving up their claims.
“We recovered over $10,000 per fan by taking the NFL to trial and holding them accountable,” Avenatti said. “If we would have never brought the case, the fans would have received a small fraction of that amount from the NFL. We will continue to try the cases on an individual basis in order to force the NFL to reimburse the fans what they are due. We should not have to proceed in this manner but we will. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
The legal battle dates back to February 2011, when a winter storm caused the NFL to fail to complete the installment of temporary seats designed to fully accommodate the 103,219 Super Bowl spectators in time for the Feb. 6 Super Bowl XLV game.
As a result, around 850 fans were relocated to different seats, 450 fans did not receive seats at all and more than 1,450 fans had seats with an obstructed view of the field.
For more details on the case, find The Texas Lawbook’s in-depth reporting on the March 2015 trial here.
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