On Friday, Judge Richard Boulware denied Zuffa’s request to reopen fact discovery. While the Motion for Summary Judgment is still pending, it did not appear that he would grant it. The trial date remains April 8, 2024.
For the background, you can see The Legal Submission 72:
Zuffa requested that the Court reopen discovery due to the post-2017 success of several MMA promotions. It argued that the fact discovery would show that it did not have an anti-competitive monopsony in the marketplace. But, the Court rebuked the arguments set forth by Zuffa.
Paul Gift was in the courtroom Friday:
No new discovery in UFC antitrust case. Case will only cover discovery through June 2017
— Paul Gift (@MMAanalytics) November 17, 2023
John Nash includes the Order signed by Judge Boulware which accepts Plaintiffs form of notice. This includes a fighters’ right to exclude themselves from the class. This would mean that they would not receive any damages if an award was decided.
In Le v Zuffa, Judge today denied the Defendant's 2 motions to reopen discovery and approved the Plaintiffs' class notice plan. Also strongly hinted that Summary Judgment will not be granted. pic.twitter.com/CTiLo8uZOa
— John S. Nash (@heynottheface) November 18, 2023
Payout Perspective:
The denial to reopen fact discovery is a good sign for the Plaintiffs that Judge Boulware is now focused on getting this case closer to trial date. Certainly, Judge Boulware will ask the parties about mediating this case prior to trial but with an actual deadline the parties will be motivated to come to some resolution or else go to trial. While this is a win for the Plaintiffs, there has to be some impetus for them to prepare this case so that Zuffa will want to settle short of taking this trial. There is always risk to trial, so while the Court has sided with Plaintiffs here, it does not mean that they will eventually win a jury verdict.
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