On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court of Nevada granted Terence Crawford’s Motion to Remand his lawsuit against Top Rank to move back to state court. The move allows Crawford’s case to proceed where he originally filed the case.
Background on the lawsuit here and here.
Crawford is suing Top Rank Boxing for Breach of Contract and has indicated that Bob Arum a racist for his handling of fighters. Top Rank removed the case to federal court after receiving word of the lawsuit. Crawford’s legal team pushed back by bringing a motion to remand the case back to state court.
Crawford argued that the move by Top Rank, which has its place of business in Nevada, was ‘gamesmanship,’ something in the legal realm known as “snap removal” because a defendant removes the case before the forum defendant has been properly served, ‘snapping’ the case into court. Arum stated that he was first made aware of the lawsuit from a New York Post reporter seeking comment on the lawsuit.
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Notably, Crawford argued that his Top Rank contract indicates that any legal dispute occur in the state court of Nevada.
However, the Court stated that the potential ‘snap removal’ of the lawsuit was the reason for the remand. Even if Top Rank did not use ‘snap removal,’ the move was ‘gamesmanship’ of a forum defendant. Thee Court notes that the removal occurred prior to the official serving of the lawsuit by Crawford on Top Rank and only 3 days after the lawsuit was filed.
Payout Perspective:
The removal was premature opined the Court, but if Top Rank had waited, I surmise that it could have kept the case in Federal Court. State Court takes less time to get to trial and the court rules are less stringent as those in federal court. This is an advantage for Crawford as one might believe that Top Rank would attempt to draw out a lawsuit and make Crawford pay exorbitant legal fees as punishment for bringing this lawsuit. MPO will continue to follow the case.
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