NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – A New York lawyer who is no stranger to throwing Hail Marys in court wants the NFL, the Giants and the Jets to pay fans $6 billion because those teams market themselves as part of the Big Apple but play their games in New Jersey.
Attorney Evan Spencer filed his ambitious proposed class action lawsuit on Jan. 3 in New York federal court against the NFL, the Giants, the Jets and MetLife Stadium Company. It's his second 10-figure request, following a failed case against Match.com, and he has also spent years representing an Omaha, Neb., strip club owner who continues to seek millions of dollars from the city for various reasons.
His Giants/Jets lawsuit claims the NFL knew the importance of keeping the New York market loyal to the teams after they moved to a stadium in New Jersey.
“The defendants artificially increased the revenue and value of the Giants and Jets franchises by billions of dollars by using the ‘New York’ and ‘NY’ brand on their franchises that are located across the Hudson River in New Jersey and have been since 1976 and 1984, respectively,” the complaint says.
“Many NFL fans who attend Giants or Jets games for the first time are unaware that these teams play out-of-state. Many NFL fans would not attend live games of the Giants or Jets if they were warned in advance that the play in the State of New Jersey.”
The suit faults the NFL for attaching “Dallas” to the Cowboys, who play in nearby Arlington; calling it the “Washington Football Team” even though its home stadium is in Landover, Md.; and not renaming the 49ers the “Santa Clara 49ers.”
Class members have suffered damages by needing to secure “expensive and time-consuming transportation” from NYC to East Rutherford for games, the suit claims. Class members pay $16 in tolls and $40 to park, the suit says, while ride-sharing companies charge $400 or more.
There is also emotional and psychological damage caused by the New York brand, the suit says.
“Sports fandom is linked to higher levels of well-being and general happiness with one’s social life as well as lower levels of loneliness and alienation,” the suit says.
“Plaintiff and the class of Giants and Jets fans lost their connection with the teams when they relocated to New Jersey and maintain minimal sports identification with the Giants and Jets due to their stadium being located in New Jersey.
“As Giants and Jets fans, Plaintiff and the class are insulted, ridiculed, harassed, tormented and bullied by NFL fans around the United States due to the affiliation of the Giants and Jets with the State of New York rather than their true home, New Jersey.”
The lawsuit makes claims for false advertising, deceptive practices, civil racketeering, unjust enrichment and conspiracy. Its goals are:
-An order requiring the Giants or Jets to find a spot in New York in which to play in 2025, when their MetLife contracts or up;
-An order requiring them to change their names to “New Jersey” while they play home games there;
-Monetary damages of $2 billion and additional punitive damages of $4 billion, with a minimum of $50 per class member; and
-Attorneys fees.
Plaintiffs lawyer Jay Edelson tweeted a Law360.com article on the lawsuit, calling it an embarrassment for his industry.
“Really making the plaintiff’s bar look good, guys. This is worse than the ‘there’s too much ice in the Starbucks ice coffee’ suit from several years,” the tweet read.
Edelson is leading litigation against disgraced plaintiffs lawyer Thomas Girardi over alleged misappropriation of settlement proceeds over a plane crash that killed 129 people.
The Giants/Jets case isn’t Spencer’s first big swing in court. He sought $1.5 billion in a 2013 lawsuit against Match.com, IAC/InteractiveCorp and People Media.
The suit claimed those defendants were illegally using class members’ photographs in “hundreds if not thousands of fraudulent profiles posted on several of the 25 dating sites owned and operated by the defendants.”
The defendants knowingly conspired with criminals in internet cafes in Nigeria, Ghana and Russia who created the fake profiles, the suit claimed.
Ultimately, New York federal judge Jesse Furman threw the case out, brought by a company called Meltech that owned the rights to images of model and adult film actress Melissa Harrington, also known as Melissa Midwest and Melissa Lincoln.
“(T)he complaint does not sufficiently allege that Defendants – as opposed to ‘criminals in foreign countries and domestically’ – were primarily responsible for any resulting harm suffered by Meltech,” the decision said.
“Although Meltech submits numerous examples of fraudulent profiles that use Harrington’s picture, its claim that Match.com in fact created such profiles is conclusory at best. Ignoring those conclusory allegations, Meltech alleges, at most, that Defendants approved and failed to appropriately screen out fraudulent profiles submitted by third parties, and those profiles caused harm to Meltech’s commercial interests.”
Meltech manages H&S Club Omaha, according to a wages class action filed against it and owner Shane Harrington that ended in a $150,000 settlement. Spencer has represented Club Omaha and Harrington, Melissa's ex-husband who operates a pornography website, in various other matters with public officials.
One of those cases sought $15 million in damages after Omaha banned nude dancing at so-called “bottle clubs,” claiming city officials were conspiring to put him out of business. Judge Laurie Camp threw the case out in 2019.
In October 2020, Spencer and Harrington teamed to file a class action against the City of Omaha, with the proposed class being all bars in Douglas County required to close in May 2020 during the COVID pandemic while other businesses were allowed to remain open.
The class suffered more than $5 million in damages, the suit claimed. That amount is a threshold for federal court jurisdiction for class actions.
Judge Brian Buescher threw the case out of court on June 7.
A 2014 lawsuit on behalf of Club Omaha and Harrington sought $25 million in punitive damages but was settled for $5,000.