MLB All-Star Game Lawsuit: A Stunt

Job Creators Network, a 501(c)(4) business advocacy group based in Texas, recently won headlines in FoxBusiness and NBC News for filing a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, and various of their individual leaders over the decision to withdraw the All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest over Georgia’s new voting law. Given the economic harm to innocent business owners who had relied on the 2019 announcement of Atlanta getting the game, and given that MLB’s decision to bully the State of Georgia for a democratically enacted law was largely based on lies about the content of that law, it would be heartening to see some consequences imposed on MLB and the union for their irresponsible acts. But this lawsuit is not going to do that.

The major media reports on this lawsuit were conspicuously light on the details of who is suing whom, for what, and on what legal theory. That is probably not an accident, given that outlets were presumably reporting off of JCN’s press release. The complaint filed by JCN in federal court in Manhattan seeks over $100 million in damages, a billion dollars in punitive damages, and an injunction moving the All-Star Game back to Atlanta. It invokes two 19th-century federal civil-rights statutes, 42 U.S.C. Sections 1983 and 1985(3) — the former a frequently invoked tool against state actors, and the latter from the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. It also asserts common-law claims for tortious interference with contracts and business relationships, promissory estoppel, and civil conspiracy. Because the lawsuit is filed in federal court in New York, the common-law claims might be decided under New York state law, but MLB might try to invoke the law of Georgia (where the harm took place) or Texas (where the plaintiff is located) if their law is more favorable to the defendants on some points.

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Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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Job Creators Network, a 501(c)(4) business advocacy group based in Texas, recently won headlines in FoxBusiness and NBC News for filing a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, and various of their individual leaders over the decision to withdraw the All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest over Georgia’s new voting law. Given the economic harm to innocent business owners who had relied on the 2019 announcement of Atlanta getting the game, and given that MLB’s decision to bully the State of Georgia for a democratically enacted law was largely based on lies about the content of that law, it would be heartening to see some consequences imposed on MLB and the union for their irresponsible acts. But this lawsuit is not going to do that.

The major media reports on this lawsuit were conspicuously light on the details of who is suing whom, for what, and on what legal theory. That is probably not an accident, given that outlets were presumably reporting off of JCN’s press release. The complaint filed by JCN in federal court in Manhattan seeks over $100 million in damages, a billion dollars in punitive damages, and an injunction moving the All-Star Game back to Atlanta. It invokes two 19th-century federal civil-rights statutes, 42 U.S.C. Sections 1983 and 1985(3) — the former a frequently invoked tool against state actors, and the latter from the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. It also asserts common-law claims for tortious interference with contracts and business relationships, promissory estoppel, and civil conspiracy. Because the lawsuit is filed in federal court in New York, the common-law claims might be decided under New York state law, but MLB might try to invoke the law of Georgia (where the harm took place) or Texas (where the plaintiff is located) if their law is more favorable to the defendants on some points.