On Friday, Zuffa lawyers have filed a motion to transfer the venue of the Antitrust lawsuit in the Northern District of California in San Jose to Nevada where the Zuffa headquarters are located. The hearing date is set for May 7th although Zuffa requests to advance the date to March 26th.
In its filing, Zuffa anticipated that the discovery process will be “contentious” as it appears that the parties already dispute a briefing schedule to file pleadings. Zuffa also cites to subpoenas issued to third-parties for this case which Zuffa indicates violates the federal rules. Zuffa was granted an extension to address the three complaints filed by the plaintiffs.
Instead of an Answer to the Complaint, it has filed a Motion to Transfer Venue.
Payout Perspective:
We had predicted this possibility back in December when the Complaint was filed in San Jose. Zuffa is based in Nevada and has a viable argument under the federal rules of civil procedure that it should be able to defend its lawsuit in its state. Zuffa argues that plaintiffs signed UFC contracts with the proviso that any legal dispute is filed in Nevada. Essentially, they agreed to the “forum selection” as part of a clause in their contract. It also argues that for convenience purposes the lawsuit should be transferred since most witnesses are located in Nevada.
MMA Payout will keep you posted.
Does this mean that Zuffa thinks the lawsuit with actually get to discovery ?
No immediate motion to dismiss ?
*will not with
Procedurally I believe motion to transfer has to happen first. Otherwise you’ve surrendurred your argument that SJ is not convenient venue.
Motion to dismiss still likely but I’m sure Zuffa wants to transfer venue in the event it does not succeed in dismissing case. At least, it will be in Nevada.
It means the fighters have a strong case hahahaha