Jets Fan Sues Patriots For Cheating

"How do I reach these kids?"

A riled-up Jets fan is still smarting from revelations three years ago that Coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were caught cheating during a game with the Jets, videotaping Jets coaches flashing play signals. And since he's a lawyer, he's decided to sue the Patriots for $185 million on behalf of all fans.

Carl Mayer, a Jets season ticket holder, thinks fans deserve refunds on all the games played at the Meadowlands between the two teams since 2000, when Belichick became head coach of the Pats. He estimates that fans spent a total of $62 million on tickets, and are entitled to triple that amount under fraud laws. According to his suit, the videotaping "violated the contractual expectations and rights of New York Jets ticket holders who paid to watch a game played in compliance with the league's rules."

Mayer first filed against the Pats in 2007, and has been in legal limbo since; according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, "the lawsuit was widely derided and ridiculed," and the NFL said it "would only waste more time, money and judicial resources." U.S. District Court judge initially threw out the case without a hearing, but it has since been resurrected by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, and was selected to be one of the relatively few cases to get an oral argument before a three-judge panel.

Yesterday, a lawyer for the Patriots said, "Every spectator that goes to a game expects there will be rules infractions," and, when a judge asked, "Do you think someone would pay that kind of money [for tickets] if they knew in advance it wasn't a fair game?" he responded, "Given what I know about professional sports -- yes." Belichick's lawyer said, "we have no duty to Jets fans" to owe them a fair game.

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By Ben Yakas in News on April 15, 2010 10:09 AM

Comments [rss]

Huffy6241

Technically, every time a yellow flag is thrown, someone is breaking a game rule (i.e.- cheating)

I'm now going to sue the Jets for $185 Million for every play they had a flag thrown last wear.

BOOM - IN YOUR FACE!!!!

PathToWisdom

Too Bad I don't watch baseball games,

and didn't buy a ticket to watch those

home runs made possible by steroids.

I would have sued the Mets and Yankees and

all those baseball teams for lying to us

about their great skill in making history

in home runs.

I had to endure a few months of "another

home run"; "a new home run record"

which I could do if I were on steroids.

cutlass

Would somebody please sue the Rangers for sucking? I would, but I have a job.

Guest

Now that's a case with some merit.

Mordicai

I don't know, it sounds like it has some merit as a civil case. Next up, suing all the juicers in baseball?

ayellen

I just read the district court's opinion. The judge says there is no cause of action because the ticket is a contract to allowed entry into a stadium to see an event. The validity of the event is no part of the contract. Lots of case law was cited to back this up. Additionally, the common-law fraud claim was dismissed as being without merit.

And people shouldn't read too much into the fact that this is going to a court of appeals. It was pretty unceremoniously discredited and dismissed in the district court, and the way our system works is that you have the right to appeal, and as long as you can find a lawyer willing to do it for what you're paying, you will appeal. And since this guy IS a lawyer (and is his own client), he will appeal as long as the system lets him.

I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts (not sure if I get dollars or donuts...) that this dismissal will be affirmed on appeal for the exact same reasons.