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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The anti-trust litigation against the UFC continues this holiday week, as Brandon Vera and Pablo Garza became the latest to file a class-action suit against Zuffa, LLC, this week.
According to a report from John Nash at BloodyElbow.com, Vera and Garza are also represented by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, inc, Warrner Angle Hallam Jackson & Formanek PLC, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, PLLC, and the Law Office of Frederick S.Schwartz, which have filed the previous two suits this month, one on behalf of Cung Le, Jon Fitch, and Nate Quarry, and the other on the behalf of Dennis Hallman and Javier Vasquez.
Vera fought from the UFC from October 2005 to August 2013, while Garza went 3-3 in six appearances from 2010 to 2013.
As to why we're seeing several separate filings, we were sent the following comment from Torch Reader Michael K. Bane, an attorney out of Chicago with experience in anti-trust cases:
"Expect quite a few more of these to pop up, all likely alleging the same basic fact pattern. In class action suits against a large corporation, you'll often see several suits arise in multiple jurisdictions as various law firms jockey to be the ones that ultimately end up the one that handles the litigation. A judge will likely and ultimately combine all of these into one large lawsuit, and appoint one law firm to handle the litigation portion (and thus be able to receive the millions in billable hours there is likely to be). There is a large advantage to being one of the named plaintiffs representing the class (Le, Fitch, Hallman, etc.), as the named plaintiffs often receive 'extra' monies as part of any settlement that may be reached. The UFC appears to have taken a hard-line stance at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see a settlement reached somewhere down the line, as it is often much cheaper to pay to make the problem go away, which can still be done without admitting to any type of fault."
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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