3rd Circuit Tosses Lawyer’s ‘Honest Match’ Suit over Patriots 'Spygate' Scandal
A lawyer who filed a $184 million suit against the New England Patriots for secretly videotaping the New York Jets hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his case after his court loss on Wednesday.
Princeton, N.J., lawyer Carl Mayer had contended the Patriots deprived season ticket-holders of an “honest match” when a team employee secretly taped the Jets’ defensive signals in 2007. Mayer’s suit over the scandal dubbed “spygate” sought a refund of three times the ticket price for all the games played between the Patriots and the Jets in Giants stadium between 2000 and 2007.
The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Mayer’s argument, ruling that a season ticket was, at best, a contractual right to watch a game, and that right was clearly honored. The Legal Intelligencer, Reuters and the Associated Press had stories.
The decision (PDF) cited a ruling holding that boxing fans weren’t cheated when Mike Tyson was disqualified for biting a chunk out of his opponent’s ear, the Intelligencer notes.
Mayer told Reuters he plans to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case. “Consumers are being taken advantage of when an organization like the Patriots engages in a systematic fraud,” he said.
In an interview with AP, Mayer said consumer-friendly rulings involving sports teams in other circuits support his case. One of those rulings, he said, held that Ohio consumer protection laws apply to statements the Cleveland Browns made about whether they intended to stay in the city.
