LAS VEGAS - Plaintiffs who say the May 2nd mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was a fraud and they deserve their pay-per-view money back will argue their cases in front of a federal judge in Southern California.
Judge R. Gary Klausner will decide if the cases are granted class action status before any trial proceeds.
A panel of judges that decide whether to consolidate claims into a single courtroom ruled Friday that lawsuits filed in several states will be heard in the Central District of California, the state where Pacquiao allegedly injured his shoulder while training for the fight.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation said in its decision that determining the severity and timing of the boxer's rotator-cuff injury could require "significant factual, and possibly expert, discovery." The panel said questions about the facts of the case, including for example who knew about the injury, "are sufficiently complex" to warrant consolidating the large number of related cases.
Fane because enraged after it was revealed, at the post fight press conference, that Pacquaio had injured his right shoulder in training and then further aggravated the injury during the fourth round of the contest.
At least 32 lawsuits had been filed as of mid-May in California, Nevada, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Several more appear to have been filed since. Pacquiao and his promoter Top Rank Inc. are named in all of the lawsuits, and most include Mayweather, his promoters and cable companies HBO and Showtime.
The fight generated a record 4.4 million pay-per-view purchases and $500 million in revenue.
