By Gerald L. Maatman, Jr. and Sean McConnell
Duane Morris Takeaways: On January 18, 2024, Judge Richard F. Boulware II of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada denied Defendant’s motion for summary judgment in a wage suppression antitrust class action and declined to exclude two of Plaintiffs’ key experts in Le v. Zuffa, LLC, No. 2:15-CV-01045 (D. Nev. Jan. 18, 2024). The Court rejected defense arguments that summary judgment was appropriate on largely the same grounds that it certified the class on August 9, 2023, including arguments that the statistical model of Plaintiffs’ expert was flawed because it failed to include everyone in the sport and failed to consider the ways promoters help fighters develop into bigger stars. Defendant also argued that there was no dispute that there are more UFC fighters, more fights, and better compensation than at the start of the class period; however, the Court found sufficient evidence that UFC may have used its market power to suppress wages in any event.
Le v. Zuffa is the first labor monopsony case ever, and the ruling in is required reading for any corporate counsel handling antitrust class action litigation involving wage-suppression issues.
Case Background
Plaintiffs are current or former UFC fighters. Defendant, Zuffa, LLC does business as UFC and is the preeminent MMA event promoter in the United States. Plaintiffs allege that UFC used exclusive contracts, market power, and a series of acquisitions to suppress wages paid to UFC fighters during the class period by up to $1.6 billion. Plaintiffs filed suit in December 2014 and defeated UFC’s motions for partial summary judgment in 2017. In February 2018, plaintiffs moved to certify two classes. A class consisting of all persons who competed in one or more live professional UFC-promoted MMA bouts taking place in the United States from December 16, 2010 to June 30, 2017 was certified last August (our prior post on that ruling is here).
In light of the class certification, Defendant renewed its motion for summary judgment and moved to exclude expert testimony. The Court struck two of Defendant’s motions to exclude and denied summary judgment. As a result, the case is scheduled to start trial on April 8, 2024.
Denial Of Summary Judgement
The Court rejected Defendant’s arguments for summary judgment on grounds that they were repetitive and unavailing.
Specifically, Zuffa argued that the total number of bouts, fighter compensation, and fighters all increased during the class period, that there are no barriers to enter the fight promotion market, and that it did not prevent competitors from signing and promoting fighters. The Court found that the fact that the raw numbers of fighters, bouts, and compensation increased is not dispositive and credited Plaintiffs’ evidence that their wages were still suppressed. The Court also noted that it expressly rejected Defendant’s arguments regarding barriers to entry and completion in the class certification decision.
Implications For Employers
Le v. Zuffa has the potential to be a landmark labor antitrust class action.
The Court credited evidence establishing that UFC has anticompetitive power on the buyer-side market of purchasing fighter services and that it used this power to harm all UFC fighters. Like other labor antitrust cases, Le v. Zuffa could be an important test of workers’ ability to use antitrust law to tilt labor market dynamics in their favor and to increase workers’ bargaining leverage for greater compensation and benefits.