This past Friday, the parties in the UFC antitrust lawsuits were before Judge Boulware to seek approval of the settlements agreed to by the parties. Judge Boulware was not pleased with what the parties came up with and will have to go back to the drawing board.
Paul Gift was at the hearing and took copious notes. The most concerning thing for the parties is that Judge Boulware has “serious concerns” about the settlement. Essentially, he feels it too low for the plaintiffs.
Judge has “serious concerns” about #UFC antitrust settlement. Is NOT approving it today.
— Paul Gift (@MMAanalytics) June 14, 2024
Judge Boulware is having another conference in two weeks to see if there is any movement on settlement. Per Dr. Gift, he’s concerned that the Le fighters are only getting $161 million when he certified a case at $800M-$1.6Billion.
He’s concerned that Le fighters only get $161M when he certified a case at $800M-$1.6B
— Paul Gift (@MMAanalytics) June 15, 2024
What does this mean? Judge Boulware is not going to agree to the settlement despite the fact that it was agreed to by the parties. Multiple former fighters were not pleased upon the announcement of the settlement proposal. Former UFC fighter Sean McCorkle responded to the news.
Trust me, he’s not the only one with serious concerns. The money will be “life changing”? For who? The lawyers and the fighters who already made millions? You have 10 lawyers and 20 fighters who are going to get 80% of the money, and the other 1,180 fighters are going to get $10k…
— Sean McCorkle (@BigSexyMcCorkle) June 16, 2024
The news is hard for the plaintiffs because they are now in a position where they must do better with the settlement or face going to trial. Certainly, Zuffa would not want to go to trial but is faced with negotiating for Court approval. How willing would they be to raise its offer?
The reason for what might seem like “increased scrutiny” by the Court is its fiduciary duty to protec tthe interests of absent class members and guard against collusion and conflict. The Court must ensure that the settlement is “fair, adequate and reasonable.”
Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure includes the reasons for the Court’s scrutiny and how it assesses settlement proposals.
(2) Approval of the Proposal. If the proposal would bind class members, the court may approve it only after a hearing and only on finding that it is fair, reasonable, and adequate after considering whether:
(A) the class representatives and class counsel have adequately represented the class;
(B) the proposal was negotiated at arm’s length;
(C) the relief provided for the class is adequate, taking into account:
(i) the costs, risks, and delay of trial and appeal;
(ii) the effectiveness of any proposed method of distributing relief to the class, including the method of processing class-member claims;
In this instance, it would seem Judge Boulware is not impressed with the money terms for the fighters. One might infer that the plaintiffs conceded too early with settlement terms based on the denial of the proposal. MPO will continue to follow.
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