HBO, Boxers Tell 9th Circuit Controversial Bout Didn't Defraud Viewers

An event not meeting viewers' expectations, even if allegedly due to misconduct by participants and broadcasters, isn't a legally cognizable injury, defendant appellees HBO and boxer Manny Pacquiao said in an answering brief (in Pacer) posted Tuesday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urging it to affirm a lower court's August decision tossing out class-action complaints (see 1801170015). The pay-per-view-watching plaintiffs "received exactly what they paid for" -- a chance to see a fight, HBO/Pacquiao said, citing court precedents. Defendant appellee Floyd Mayweather, in a similar answering brief (in Pacer), said plaintiff success would "create new law, opening the floodgates to a host of lawsuits brought by disgruntled sports fans." The appellee arguments are "a rehash" of what they brought in District Court motions to dismiss, and they miss the point of the complaint -- that consumers were deceived through a conscious effort to conceal that Pacquiao was injured during training and, had they known, would have made a different purchasing decision, said appellant counsel Hart Robinovitch of Zimmerman Reed. Those fraud-based sports claims have been allowed to go forward in other suits, he said.