Avenatti offers to settle HOF lawsuit for $450 per fan, with no legal fees

Posted by Mike Florio on August 15, 2016, 7:00 AM EDT
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On Thursday, lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a nationwide class action aimed at obtaining full and complete compensation for all losses incurred by fans who attended last Sunday’s Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled due to mishandled preparation of the field. On Monday, Avenatti sent a letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell with a unique settlement offer.

Avenatti is willing to resolve the case now, for payment of $450 to each person who held a ticket to the game. The amount includes no fees for the lawyers, along with a commitment from Avenatti that no fees will be taken from the settlement amount or otherwise sought from the NFL or the Hall of Fame. Avenatti estimates that the actual expenses to attend the game averaged more than $700 per ticketholder.

With a capacity of 22,375, that’s a total payout of just over $10 million. Appearing last week on PFT Live, Avenatti said that the league already has spent more than $20 million to defend itself in the Super Bowl XLV ticket fiasco litigation.

“As shown by the above offer,” Avenatti writes in the letter, a copy of which PFT has obtained, “the fans are not seeking ‘jackpot justice’ or a lottery ticket as a result of what happened. They merely want to get a significant amount of their hard-earned money back.”

The offer remains open until 12:01 p.m. ET on Friday, August 19. Avenatti vows that, if the dispute isn’t resolved by then, the case will be litigated to conclusion, with all damages and fees sought.

It’s a smart P.R. move for Avenatti and his clients. If the NFL rejects the offer, Avenatti and his clients will be able to proceed aggressively, shrugging and pointing to the August 15 letter if anyone ever complains that they are overreaching.

Should the NFL accept the offer?  Ultimately, the NFL’s total bill in defending itself against this case will likely surpass $10 million. But a quick and easy settlement in this case may encourage others with grievances against the league to sue, and that’s not the kind of precedent any large business likes to establish.

Besides, how will the lawyers representing the NFL ever make their money if the NFL doesn’t park a gigantic cash cow in the well-marbled lobby of the firm’s D.C. and/or New York offices?

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44 responses to “Avenatti offers to settle HOF lawsuit for $450 per fan, with no legal fees”

  4. It shouldn’t be about setting precedent, it should be about doing the right thing. This offer is more than fair.

  5. Greasy shill wants to cut a deal early because he knows he blew it on this one. Sounds roughly fair and allows him to lie about “a win”.

  6. I don’t think Avenatti can deliver. Who is he to speak for all the ticket holders? The locals would be happy with $450 but those who came from a distance won’t think it is fair.

    The NFL should probably take the deal on the condition that it is a final settlement.

    I don’t think it sets a bad precedent the NFL should be concerned about, maybe a good one.

  8. The league would rather spend 50 mil defending this than pay out one single dime more than the face value of ticket refunds.

  9. Smart smart move.

    The league will counter with ” the fans were generally aware the game was going to be cancelled” and decline the offer.

  10. who will UpToNoGoodell ask for advice on whether to settle? Yup, NFL lawyers. Who will make millions off of defending these charges if they don’t settle. Yup, NFL lawyers. You do the math.

  12. Going by the level of integrity the billionaires’ club normally operates at for showcase games, they will probably counter with an offer that Avenatti should pay the NFL a cut of all his future earnings because of the exposure this case got for him.

  15. Seems like a fair deal to put this thing to rest and special if he attorney is doing this pro bono. At 22,375 capacity, did they sell that many tickets. Just cough up the money and be done with it.

  17. Rule. #1 is to never take the first offer. However, Avenatti’s demand is pretty reasonable, and I bet the NFL fights this for a long time. $450 is actually kind of low when you consider travel, hotel, parking, tickets, concessions, and other costs. I think the NFL fights it to avoid setting precedent that it’s easy to use, which is a typical billionaire move.

  18. The NFL should do this so they don’t come off as ripping off the fans for every last penny they can get. It would help to rehabilitate their image. All that being said, the lawyers don’t care about that so look forward to this dragging out in litigation. If so then I think the attendees should ask for the full $700 per person in addition to lawyer fees that should be the same amount as the NFL paid their lawyers to defend the case. I’m so sick of lawyers but I’m also sick of the NFL front office. If any normal business was run by their front office, it’d be out of business within a month.

  19. Avenatti is smart, but not necessarily for the reasons you state.

    He has no case and he knows it. There is no contract, implied or otherwise, between a seller and buyer beyond providing a certain product for a certain price. They bought a ticket to a game, there was no game, they get the price of the ticket back. Period.

    No court in the world would set the precedent of making a seller responsible for all of a buyers expenditures relating to a purchase. If someone travels to see a concert and gets a hotel room and the concert gets cancelled because the lead singer gets a sore throat, does the customer get reimbursed for their hotel and travel? Of course not.

  20. Shrewd? How about genius? Avenatti put the league and their punching bag on the spot with a compromise.

    To the always ‘half empty’ commentators, of course it won’t cover EVERY fan’s costs but it’s an average! That’s why it’s a settlement. If certain plaintiffs (fans) decline the settlement language ($450), they’re free to go it ‘alone’. Otherwise they take their money and the issue is finished, permanently.

    I’ve yet to see the HOF attendance # printed anywhere but past HOF games it’s sold out so the article is likely pretty close if not a little under the $ mark.

    The real question is whether the NFL and their puppet (report that if you want) because he is are going to put their ego under the guise of “establishing precedent” above ‘doing the right thing’.

    When it comes to the NFL doing the right thing, their history speaks for itself.

  21. Whichever choice is the right thing to do, will more than likely be the opposite of what the NFL chooses to do.

  22. Read the disclaimer on the back of the ticket…there’s your answer.
    You’ll get nothing and like it.

  23. “Hope the NFL makes the wrong move.”

    Its been years since the league did anything that could be categorized as a “right move”, so I wouldn’t expect anything different this time.

  24. Considering the BILLIONS the league already has, and will continue to make, this is a drop in the bucket. Greed will ultimately win out in the end, and they’ll probably fight it. Integrity of the shield doesn’t seem to include doing the right thing, respecting the fans who gave them their billions, or just in general being reasonable, decent human beings.

  26. what happens when a concert is cancelled? That happens all the time due to illness.

    You cant claim your travel expenses on something like that.

    This is a case of people treating the NFL differently, seeing deep pockets.

    Stuff gets cancelled, you dont get reimbursed for your limo and your new jersey you bought for the game.

    Many were going to canton no matter what anyway.

  27. I’m sure the NFL was thinking about offering free shipping on all NFL.com orders for the rest of the week instead

  28. I agree with you pointlessopinion12. And to others who’ve commented, yes there is a disclaimer on every ticket sold, whether it be a game, concert, etc. But, the NFL also knew that the game wasn’t going to be played at LEAST an hour before the cancellation, so I can understand where Avenatti
    is going with this…Those people that were in the stadium were buying beverages, food, souveniers, etc. NOT knowing that the game was cancelled…So $450 per person would be more than fair…Then again, the NFL has spent over $20M, on the seat fiasco in Dallas, $15M or so on Deflategate, plus “other” investigations so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the NFL turns a deaf ear to this.

  29. As an attorney, my advice to Goodell would be to settle, contingent upon the case being certified as a class action and a large percentage of ticket holders not opting out of the settlement. As a fan, I hope Goodell turns it down and the NFL is embarrassed and humiliated in court.

  31. “The locals would be happy with $450 but those who came from a distance won’t think it is fair.”
    ________

    Probably true but people’s ideas of “fair” frequently don’t match up to what the law says. Legally, the ticket prices are all you would be entitled to so anybody dreaming a court would force the NFL to pay for their entire trip is in for a rude awakening. Some extra money beats no extra money every time.

  32. bigredgoog says:
    Aug 15, 2016 8:15 AM
    I don’t think Avenatti can deliver. Who is he to speak for all the ticket holders? The locals would be happy with $450 but those who came from a distance won’t think it is fair.

    The NFL should probably take the deal on the condition that it is a final settlement.

    I don’t think it sets a bad precedent the NFL should be concerned about, maybe a good one.

    16 5

    ——————————————————————————-
    He doesn’t speak for all the ticket holders, that’s not how a class action suit works. If th NFL were to agree to these terms, then anyone who held a ticket would have the choice of (a) accepting the payout, which would result in them getting $450 and not having to deal with this any more, or (b) opting out, which would leave them free to deal with the NFL on their own. Of course, this would mean hiring (and paying for) their own lawyer, as well as probably spending over a year fighting this out in court with a company that will keep fighting tooth and nail to avoid any further settlement. All that risk for a few hundred more dollars probably isn’t worth it, which is why most fans would likely accept the settlement.

  33. No legal fees? But the whole point of the class action lawsuit is for the lawyers to get millions in fees while fans get a 10 percent off coupon on their next purchase at NFL.com.

  34. lukedunphysscienceproject says:
    Aug 15, 2016 9:39 AM

    Avenatti is smart, but not necessarily for the reasons you state.

    He has no case and he knows it. There is no contract, implied or otherwise, between a seller and buyer beyond providing a certain product for a certain price. They bought a ticket to a game, there was no game, they get the price of the ticket back. Period.

    No court in the world would set the precedent of making a seller responsible for all of a buyers expenditures relating to a purchase. If someone travels to see a concert and gets a hotel room and the concert gets cancelled because the lead singer gets a sore throat, does the customer get reimbursed for their hotel and travel? Of course not.

    ————————————————–

    While this is all true, let’s not forget the game was cancelled due to gross negligence, not something out of everyone’s control like a sore throat.

  37. The No Fun League, run by an idiot and taking advantage of the paying customer, should settle this dispute at the earliest possible opportunity. Fans should boycott the No Fun League and not buy its outrageously priced merchandise and other assorted junk. Goodell should be drummed out of the league. Worst Commissioner in NFL history.

  38. learysdisciples says:
    Aug 15, 2016 9:53 AM
    Read the disclaimer on the back of the ticket…there’s your answer.
    You’ll get nothing and like it.
    ============
    Yes, that’s called an adhesion contract, which can be deemed worthless in a court of law because the buyer had no negotiating power to dictate any terms.

    Kind of like when the valet lets your $40,000 car get stolen – yes, they are liable, despite what it says on the back of the valet ticket. Unless, of course, you would prefer to walk home from the valet because you don’t believe in that type of lawsuit.

  39. Should have been at least $490. Some people won’t want the money too, so the NFL saves with them. How much do they owe for tickets only? Take that off and you can see $450 is a bargain for the NFL.

  40. “”what happens when a concert is cancelled? That happens all the time due to illness.

    Not the same situation. The players didn’t collectively get sick.

    The groundskeepers were incompetent and that incompetence led to the game being cancelled.

  43. “Goodell just might do it, to try and rehab his image, which needs it after the Brady fiasco”

    Most people outside of Boston will agree that Roger started improving his image greatly with nailing that smug SOB Brady with 4 games. Not enough for all the crap they’ve gotten away with, but it’s a good start.

    HOF game was a mess and was so odd I don’t know how settling could set a precedent. Close it quick and move on from that embarrassment.

  44. The groundskeepers were incompetent and that incompetence led to the game being cancelled.

    So when do we see the class-action lawsuit against the groundskeepers?

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