BATON ROUGE — A television events distributor is suing Characters Lounge Inc. d/b/a Club Etops a/k/a Characters Lounge, as well as three individuals, establishment operators, citing alleged unlawful broadcasting of a sporting event.
J&J Sports Productions Inc. filed a complaint on April 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against the defendants alleging that they violated the Communications Act. Johnnie Leroy McVay, Christopher John McVay and Sherrell P. McVay are the three individuals named in the suit.
According to the complaint, on May 2, 2015, plaintiff was the exclusive nationwide distributor of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight. The plaintiff alleges that it has suffered damages for not receiving royalty payments for said program. The plaintiff holds the establishment and three individual defendants responsible because they allegedly unlawfully intercepted and broadcasted plaintiff's program on their premises without plaintiff's permission and/or authorization.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks statutory damages in the sum amount of $170,000, attorneys' fees, costs of suit and all other relief as the court may deem just and proper. It is represented by Ronnie J. Berthelot of The Berthelot Law Firm LLC in Baton Rouge.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Case number 3:17-cv-00277