After losing the verdict, the NFL won the judgment in the Sunday Ticket case. And to the victor go the spoils.
Via A.J. Perez of FrontOfficeSports.com, the NFL has formally sought reimbursement of litigation costs from the plaintiffs in the antitrust action. The amount requested, per the league’s filing, is $389,715.61.
That amount represents out-of-pocket costs, not legal fees. The league seeks compensation for witness depositions, travel, copying, and other hard expenses incurred in defending the case.
In the American system of civil justice, each side pays its own legal fees, with certain exceptions. In most jurisdictions, the losing party can be required to pay the winning side’s litigation costs.
It’s a matter falling within the discretion of the judge. In this case, it’s kind of a jerk move by the NFL to seek the money — and it would be the ultimate jerk move for Judge Philip Gutierrez to order the payment.
The plaintiffs won the case. They proved that the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package violates antitrust law. The plaintiffs ultimately lost only because the judge, in a different kind of jerk move, allowed the plaintiffs’ expert witnesses to testify about damages before deciding after the verdict was returned that the testimony wasn’t good enough. To make matters worse, the judge later refused to order the NFL to disband Sunday Ticket in its current form, even though he also found that the evidence supported the jury’s conclusion that it violates federal antitrust laws.
Yes, the league has every right to seek the money. Yes, it also makes the league look petty and vindictive for doing so.
Although the cash won’t come from the pockets of Sunday Ticket customers, the effort to force the lawyers representing those customers to pay nearly $400,000 becomes a warning to any other lawyers who might dare to help other Sunday Ticket customers prove that the out-of-market package violates federal law.
But, hey, football is family.