FootieBusiness.com, published by Ben Berger, has published a couple of interesting posts concerning a lawsuit filed against MLS soccer player Nate Jacqua alleging sexual assault.
The first post deals with the fact that the plaintiff sued multiple parties, including the MLS and two MLS teams in connection with Jacqua’s alleged off-field actions:
The inclusion of multiple defendants smacks of overreaching by the plaintiff. While this certainly adds deep pockets to the case (and can help settlement), the claims against the defendants other than Jacqua sound in “vicarious liability.”
The second post delves deeper into the issue of multiple defendants while also discussing jurisdictional questions:
One interesting procedural issue may arise because of the potential jurisdictional issues raised in the Complaint. The plaintiff resides in Canada, MLS is located in New York, the Galaxy in California and Houston in Texas. The defendants may seek to “remove” this case to Federal Court because of this diverse citizenship, thereby taking the matter from Oregon State Courts. As a practical matter, this would likely have the impact of moving the case more efficiently, as Federal Courts tend to move faster than their state counterparts. Perhaps more importantly, Federal Court judges (who have a lifetime appointment), are usually far more receptive to motions aimed dismissing the complaint prior to trial. Such a tactic may especially benefit the teams and the league, because the of the difficulty in proving the vicarious liability portion of this case.
Ben Berger
Ben continues to expand upon the great soccer posts he wrote for Connecticut Sports Law on his blog FootieBusiness. If you are a soccer fan, you should check out this site.
