Line drives may strike fans
America’s favorite pastime can become dangerous if fans do not pay attention to their surroundings. Foul balls and broken bats are common accidents within the ball park environment. When purchasing a game ticket, a fan is entering a contract to assume the risk of injury. In many instances, the “Baseball Rule” applies, where a fan cannot seek damages for wounds sustained during a major league game. One possible exception to that rule is when a child is involved.
Roughing the passer
Peyton Manning is well known as the mature father figure of the National Football League. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl XLVI winning quarterback of the Denver Broncos has made unwanted headlines this week for his association with a 1997 University of Tennessee sexual harassment lawsuit. Dr. Jamie Naughright, former Director of Health & Wellness at the University of Tennessee, reported that Peyton Manning exposed himself to her while she was examining his foot in the locker room. In his book “Manning: A Father, His Sons and A Football Legacy” Manning accounted the incident as a harmless locker-room exchange where he was “mooning” a fellow player. Manning called the event “crude maybe, but harmless”. Read More
“That’s poor defending.”
While many people thought soccer in the United States would never make headlines, the coach of a US-based club has proved that thought false. Piotr Nowak, former manager of the MLS’s Philadelphia Union, had filed a lawsuit against the team for wrongful termination. Nowak claims he was never given a fair shake as manager and was unfairly let go from his position. Union CEO Nick Sakiewic begs to differ, and cited the team’s poor performance, lackluster direction, and a number of questionable management decisions as grounds for the firing. With the lawsuit being moved to a new judge, the case files have been released to the public. This has painted Nowak in a terrible light, as there are now details of certain coaching techniques and acts which violate MLS rules and regulations. Nowak had been seeking damages exceeding $115,000.
Game over, please insert coin
Sometimes the court room can become a little cartoonish, but a recent case regarding a real man’s likeness to a TV show character has reached a new level. Billy Mitchell, the man famous for holding the world record for the video game Donkey Kong, recently filed a lawsuit against Cartoon Network. One of the network’s shows, aptly named “Regular Show”, featured a character who looks very similar to Mitchell, who appears as a floating head with video game skills. The character, named “GBF”, has long brown hair and big beard, very similar to the plaintiff. Mitchell came to fame in 2007 alongside the documentary “King of Kong”, which tells the story of how he broke the world record for Donkey Kong, and also details his prowess in other arcade games like Pac-Man. A judge in New Jersey recently decided that the lawsuit itself was without merit, and decided to pull the plug.
Even the Wild West did not stay wild forever
Those who have been dreaming of making money in daily fantasy sports may be in for a rude awakening. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the 2 major players in the industry, DraftKings and FanDuel, questioning the self-regulatory methods of their contests. The recent scandal has shades of insider trading, where employees from each company would take the internal information (including player rankings, strategy, etc) and submit “teams” to the opposing company. Both companies have been advertising heavily with popular sports leagues like the NFL and MLB, leading many to believe they are very financially successful. The latest lawsuit was filed by a man from Watertown, MA (DraftKings is based in Boston, while FanDuel is based in New York City). Read More