NFLPA Tackles Upper Deck with Yet Another Lawsuit
With so many people at the Industry Summit this past week, I assumed nothing could happen legally in the hobby. Right?
Wrong.
As reported by Courthouse News, on March 16, Upper Deck found itself on the receiving end of yet another lawsuit. This time by the NFLPA. As the NFLPA's complaint states:
This is a straight-forward case of serial breaches of contracts by Defendant Upper Deck Company, LLC. Specifically, this lawsuit arises out of Upper Deck's admitted failure to make scores of payments owned to Plaintiffs National Football League Players Association and National Football League Players Incorporated under two License Agreements, two Service Agreements, and hundreds of Players Agreements executed between the parties.
The complaint also states why the NFLPA brought this suit:
Considering Upper Deck's recent history of flouting its legal obligations to its licensors, including, upon information and belief, admitted counterfeiting...and millions of dollars in outstanding payments to other licensors, Plaintiffs gave up hope that Upper Deck would honor its contractual commitments and filed this lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are seeking almost $1.5 million in damages in the 235-count, 287-page complaint.
The complaint is also a gold mine of information about the trading card industry, including how much some players (through the NFL Players Incorporated) were paid to autograph cards like Tony Romo ($180,000 in Count 228) and Tim Tebow ($84,000 in Count 222).
Upper Deck is now facing lawsuits from two leagues. Less than a month ago, Major League Baseball also filed suit against Upper Deck for breach of contract.
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Don Gretre
This is small potatoes, when you are the big dog expect ridiculous lawsuits. Expect more great UD products in the future, if not be ready to be bombarded with even more garbage from Panini, Topps and ITG.