Dominance MMA, LLC filed an Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel the Production of documents in the Kajan Johnson, et al. antitrust lawsuit against Zuffa.
Plaintiffs filed an Order to Show Cause holding Dominance in contempt for not producing documents in the discovery process. As a result Plaintiffs’ request that Dominance be ordered to produce the documents and pay attorneys fees for bringing the motion. According to Plaintiffs, they claim that they had met and conferred with the attorney for Dominance, but received pushback on production of documents from Ali Abdelaziz.
Dominance’s attorneys argue that the parties had met and conferred (mandated process whereby the parties are required to discuss the discovery issues prior to filing a motion with the court). Dominance claims that the process stalled “when legitimate issues arose concerning third-party confidentiality, lack of control over independent contractors’ devices, and the adequacy of safeguards for confidential information belonging to third parties.” Specifically, they cite fighter contracts and disclosure of pay information. The filing notes several fighters objected to the release of the information.
Despite the filing by Plaintiffs, Dominance states that the collection process of documents is occurring. It notes that on February 19th it reached out to the vendor handling disclose to image Abdelaziz’s “device and to collect responsive emails.” They note that the imaging was unsuccessful but attempt to reimage.
It also argued that they were concerned about the confidentiality process. They cite two specific instances. The first is a document that was filed by Plaintiffs without redaction and not under seal which included private information of fighters. The second included a Courthouse Video which included comments by several former fighters participating in the lawsuit which were negative about Dominance’s founder, Ali Abdelaziz.
Dominance’s attorneys are requesting that any documents that are produced are designated as Confidential or Attorneys Eyes Only. If they need to be filed, they are requesting that it will be under seal which would make it unavailable to the public.
Payout Perspective:
The release of the social media from Plaintiffs has no real legal bearing except it is meant to embarrass. While it does show contempt for Ali by the former fighters involved in the lawsuit, it is not legally contemptable. However, Dominance does make some points in the filing in that the fighters the agency represents are sensitive from personal information being leaked. But, that has to be a matter for the judge and there seems to be a lot of posturing than production going on. One would believe that the magistrate will give a date for Dominance to provide responsive documents and have them produce a detail log of information that is not produced so that the parties may meet and confer on those items. MPO will continue to follow. l
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