Judge infers he will grant class action certification for bout class in plaintiffs lawsuit against Zuffa

According to a status conference hearing in the UFC lawsuit on Thursday morning, Judge Richard Boulware is closer to a decision to certify the bout class of fighters bringing antitrust claims against Zuffa.

Bout class would be the fighters suing for damages from their purses being suppressed while the Identity class would be the fighters claiming damages from the use of their images in merch such as video games. Big overlap between the two. Bout are asking for much higher damages

— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) September 17, 2020

I haven’t followed the case but this description makes sense, as the former group will have a greater chance of showing a common harm (maybe a kind of “systematic” suppression), while the latter group seemingly would require individualized determinations re: harm, damages, etc. https://t.co/LkJRSQBSHJ

— Rich Diggs (@RichDDiggs) September 17, 2020

Judge Boulware is in the process of finalizing his order and it appears that the bout class will survive while the “identity” class will not survive.  The Identity Class was the portion of proposed fighters bringing claims based on the fact that Zuffa systematically suppressed the compensation paid to athletes for their participation in bouts and for their identity rights.  Notably, Nate Quarry was the sole plaintiff identified as of the time of the lawsuit filing.  Quarry commented on the hearing today, in general.

Judge Bouleware, “If the court certifies the bout class, which is most likely going to happen, what will your next steps be?” said to the lawyers.
This is HUGE for us.
Essentially he said, “I’m not going to say I’m siding with the plaintiffs but I’m probably siding w/ them.”
Cont

— Nathan Quarry (@NateRockQuarry) September 17, 2020

It appears that the class action lawsuit for the ‘bout’ class will go forward.  A written order is pending. On a side note, MMA Payout received the wrong call-in information to the hearing and could not attend via phone.  An unfortunate mixup.

Payout Perspective:

MPO will have more on this in the coming days, but this is a big win for the plaintiffs as today’s hearing seemed to be a check-in due to the fact that the courts were closed during the pandemic.  One would think that the order would have been issued before or the same day as this hearing.  To ask if there was any more information