
Law of Cards: Upper Deck and MLB Close to Settling Lawsuit
It looks like the domino theory is in full effect. Upper Deck is on the brink of settling their third lawsuit in recent weeks. First, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Upper Deck settled their differences at the courthouse on April 16. With a little momentum already behind it, Upper Deck then settled its lawsuit with Blowout Cards a short time later. And now it looks like Upper Deck and MLB Properties are on the verge of settling their breach of contract lawsuit, a lawsuit that is only two-months old.
According to a April 25 letter to the judge, Upper Deck counsel stated, that "the parties are currently engaged in settlement negotiations and are close to settling the dispute."
Legal translation: If I had to guess, Upper Deck probably agreed to pay the full amount it owed MLB under their last settlement contract. And if it does, that suit will go bye-bye.
Three Upper Deck settlements in two weeks? It looks like Upper Deck is cleaning house.
Given how quickly lawsuits are settling this month, it’ll be interesting to see if more follow. Upper Deck has a few more (most notably, with the NFLPA, with itself) that I’m sure it would like to end.
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Offy
I wonder if Upper Deck will have any money left after paying off all of their settlements. It’s not like they have a ton of releases to sell these days. Then again, they must make more without paying licensing fees and having to pay to put annoying things like pictures of the player s on cards.