Class-action suit against New England Patriots

By reader acclaim: “A New York Jets season-ticket holder filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick for ‘deceiving customers.’” Carl Mayer of Princeton Township, N.J., is suing over revelations that the Patriots unlawfully videotaped signals from Jets coaches in a Sept. 9 game. Mayer and his attorney, Bruce […]

By reader acclaim: “A New York Jets season-ticket holder filed a class-action lawsuit Friday against the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick for ‘deceiving customers.'” Carl Mayer of Princeton Township, N.J., is suing over revelations that the Patriots unlawfully videotaped signals from Jets coaches in a Sept. 9 game. Mayer and his attorney, Bruce Afran,

calculated that because customers paid $61.6 million to watch eight “fraudulent” games, they’re entitled to triple that amount — or $184.8 million — in compensation under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act and the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

Mayer and Afran, who consider themselves public interest lawyers, have been thorns in the side of New Jersey politicians for years, filing lawsuits and demanding investigations to advance their grievances. They are well known in the state but generally have had little success in their causes.

Both have lost bids for elected offices, and Mayer once served as a presidential campaign adviser to Ralph Nader.

(Dennis Waszak Jr., “Jets fan sues Pats, seeks $184 million”, AP/Boston Globe, Sept. 28; ProFootballTalk “Rumor Mill”, Sept. 28). More: Sadly, No!.

2 Comments

  • If I were these two Bozos, I’d be more outraged that the Jets are not going to make the playoffs. Being a Jets fan automatically leads to outrage. How many playoff games have they won the last seven years?

  • If they were really concerned about fraudulent games, they should have sued Goodell and the league office for destroying all the tapes without letting anyone familiar with opposing teams’ signals examine them.