Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST—C.D. Cal.: Boxing manager unable to knock out tying, monopoly claims, (Jan 7, 2016)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

A manager of top professional boxers was unable to convince the federal district court in Los Angeles to dismiss an antitrust action brought by boxing promoter Top Rank Inc. The issues raised by the defending manager with respect to the federal antitrust claims were more appropriately resolved on a motion for summary judgment. Thus, a motion to dismiss a second amended complaint was denied (Top Rank, Inc. v. Haymon, January 6, 2016, Walter, J.).

In July 2015, Top Rank—the promoter of headliner Manny Pacquiao among other boxers—filed its complaint, alleging that Alan Haymon and his companies—who manage Floyd Mayweather and others—engaged in an unlawful “tie out” and a conspiracy to restrain trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, as well as attempted monopolization in violation of Section 2. Violations of the California Unfair Practices Act and California Unfair Competition Law also were pursued.

According to the motion to dismiss, Top Rank was not injured by the challenged conduct and therefore lacked antitrust standing. Further, the manager and related defendants contended that there was no harm to competition. In addition, the second amended complaint does not adequately plead that the defendants had market power to support monopolization and tying claims, according to the defendants.

In its decision, the court did not address these specific challenges. Instead, it concluded that dismissal was not proper because the second amended complaint did not lack a cognizable legal theory or fail to include sufficient facts to support the legal theories. A stay of discovery in the matter was vacated.

The Case is No. 2:15-cv-04961-JFW-MRW.

Attorneys: Daniel M. Petrocelli (O'Melveny and Myers LLP) for Top Rank, Inc. Howard Weitzman (Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump and Aldisert LLP) for Alan Haymon.

Companies: Top Rank, Inc.

Cases: Antitrust CaliforniaNews