NEW YORK (Legal Newsline) – The lawyer suing the NFL for billions of dollars because the Giants and Jets play in New Jersey has hit back at a motion to dismiss, arguing the defendants failed to make a convincing argument.
Evan Spencer filed his response to the motion to dismiss on May 8 in New York federal court as he pursues a class action lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs Abdiell Suero and Maggie Wilkins. The case alleges the NFL, Giants, Jets and Meadowlands Stadium Company use the New York brand to attract fans, then force them to drive all the way to New Jersey to watch games.
“With regard to the ‘New York’ portion of the Giants and Jets names, there are two ways to look at this,” the response says.
Either the Jets and the Giants are New York teams who should play in New York, or they are New Jersey teams who should stop ‘eschewing’ New Jersey identification and change their names.
“And the truth is that even if MetLife stadium is ‘only’ seven miles away from Manhattan, fans do not fly like the crows (or swim like the fishes), and this allegedly seven-mile metropolitan ride took Plaintiffs four hours roundtrip, by public and private transport.”
Spencer’s lawsuit claims the defendants knew the importance of keeping the New York market loyal to the Giants and Jets after they moved to a stadium in New Jersey decades ago. It says they “artificially increased the revenue and value” of the franchises by using the “New York’ brand.
Spencer filed an amended complaint that dropped some of his original claims but added others.
The defendants claimed the case is not a productive use of the court’s time when they filed their motion to dismiss on March 21.
“Defendants have never represented that the stadium is located anywhere other than New Jersey,” the motion to dismiss says.
“Nor is the New York component of the teams’ names understood to identify the location of the teams’ stadium. Indeed, Plaintiff himself alleges that the geographic components of NFL teams’ names refer to their hometowns.
“Plaintiff’s attempt to nonetheless manufacture false advertising, deceptive practice, civil RICO and unjust enrichment claims arising from the Giants’ and Jets’ continuing use of New York names following their well-known moves to New Jersey nearly half-a-century ago fails under well-established New York and federal law.”
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.
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.