The case filed by Tony Romo’s fantasy-football convention against the NFL suffered a major setback on Monday.
Early word from Dallas is that a judge granted the league’s motion for summary judgment in the case filed by The Fan Expo, LLC, against the NFL, arising from the cancellation of the National Fantasy Football Convention in 2015.
Romo’s side will file an appeal. Apparently, claims for breach of contract and “estoppel” (a fairness-based theory based on the idea that it’s inappropriate to adopt one course of action and then suddenly change direction) remain viable. Absent a reversal of the judge’s ruling, claims for tortious interference with contract, business disparagement, fraud, and tortious interference with prospective business relationships have failed.
The case arises from Romo’s contention that the league applies its gambling policy selectively, and that the league chose to use it to effectively scrap an event for which multiple members of NFL Media had signed contracts to participate and 15 members of NFL Media had been credentialed to cover.
But not every grossly inconsistent and unfair application of policy gives rise to viable causes of action. For now, the judge in Texas who was assigned the case has decided that it doesn’t.