Floyd Mayweather won the fight at 9:50 pm. Conor McGregor met him at a press conference 60 minutes later. Three hours before that, a group of lawyers — one in Oregon, one in Los Angeles, and one ring-side in Las Vegas — were already preparing a class-action lawsuit against Showtime, one of the companies allegedly responsible for selling subpar livestreams of the event.
Zack Bartel vs. Showtime officially began last weekend. Bartel is the lead plaintiff among a group of potentially thousands of others who had trouble viewing Showtime’s livestream of what was billed as the biggest fight in the history of fights.
“My phone won’t stop ringing,” says Michael Fuller, lead counsel for Bartel. Fuller expects to file complaints in various other states soon and to add additional providers among the named defendants: “Any [provider] who will not give a refund.”
“This is really the first of its kind when it comes to main-event boxing matches,” Fuller added. “We’ve never seen anyone try to stream an event of this size.”
Showtime and UFC reportedly recognized the issue and delayed Mayweather and McGregor’s entrance to the arena so they could resolve it. Resolution never came for Bartel and many others. So with the speed and precision that Showtime’s stream lacked, Bartel’s attorneys conferred, they drafted, they exchanged drafts, they edited, and then they filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court.
Here’s your play-by-play:
Around 6 p.m., Bartel was with a group of friends who got together to watch the fight in Portland, Ore. Among the group was the lead counsel, Fuller. “We couldn’t get the fight…the undercard wouldn’t even come up. So we went on Twitter and noticed dozens and dozens of people with the same problem,” Fuller explains. “I turned to [Bartel] and asked if he wanted to represent all consumers in a claim against Showtime — he said ‘sure.’”
Fuller jumped in his car towards home to draft the lawsuit. But first, he contacted the lawyers at Geragos & Geragos, a high-profile law firm out of Los Angeles, with whom he had worked in the past. Mark J. Geragos, the firm’s Principal and most prominent face, having represented Michael Jackson, Puff Daddy, and other celebrities, had no idea about the streaming issues; he was enjoying the fight the old-fashioned way — ringside.
The incomparable @danawhite knows what’s up @thebig3 championship in Vegas. Tonight is #MayweathervMcgregor pic.twitter.com/fFXGroW8ko
— Mark Geragos (@markgeragos) August 26, 2017
Fuller was still in his car when his client, Bartel, began sending him photos of what he was seeing on the screen — nothing but grainy images. Fuller inserted the photos into the complaint. He exchanged emails with his client and his co-counsel. They shared drafts of the complaint. His client approved it. Geragos approved it.
At 9:50 pm, referee Robert Byrd called the fight for Mayweather. Nearly 30 minutes earlier, at 9:25 pm, Fuller had officially filed the 18-page complaint. The next day, he went fly fishing.
Fuller and his team proved to be masters of the rapid-file lawsuit. We will see whether speed equates to success. At least one leading sports law analyst has already questioned the lawsuit’s viability, particularly in light of Showtime’s and UFC’s commitment to refunds.
Statement from @DanaWhite: pic.twitter.com/ErvWRnjnVe
— UFC (@ufc) August 29, 2017