The Court in the UFC Antitrust lawsuit has ruled that there not be an evidentiary hearing on the admissibility of expert reports and testimony prior to the December 14th Motion for Summary Judgment and Class Certification hearing.
The Court issued a Minute Order late last week:
The Court has considered the Request [ECF No. [617]] for an evidentiary hearing. The Court DENIES this request at this time. The Court will the hear arguments of counsel and make a determination at the hearing on December 14, 2018 whether an evidentiary hearing is necessary to decide the Motion To Certify [ECF No. [518]].
As we explained in this post, the hearing requested by Zuffa was to determine expert testimony and the admissibility of the same. The Plaintiffs argued that Zuffa was asking for a reconsideration of a evidentiary hearing to determine the expert testimony. As Plaintiffs point out, the Motion to Certify the Class occurs on December 14th and would require a delay in that decision if they were to entertain such a hearing.
Payout Perspective:
A minor victory for the Plaintiffs here as it does not have to prepare for another hearing in this lawsuit. It also prevents a determination on the evidence prior to the class certification hearing. While the Court may still request an evidentiary hearing at some point, it saw no reason to do it prior to next Friday’s big day. One might take this as good news for Plaintiffs if you think that the Court was concerned about the information that it needed another day to decide the evidence in this case. Of course, the court’s calendar could be so full, there was just not enough time to slot it in before the 14th. MMA Payout will keep you posted.
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