NEW ORLEANS -- A company that provides broadcasts of sporting events to businesses is demanding $340,000 from a sports bar and an individual over the alleged illegal showing of a boxing match.
J&J Sports Productions is a third party seller of the rights to show events, in this case the March 8, 2014, middleweight championship fight between Saul Alvarez and Alfredo Angulo.
The company alleges El Rancho Sports Bar in Westwego, Louisiana, south of New Orleans, broadcast the fight without paying a fee, approximately $2,000, for permission. J&J Sports won default judgments against the bar and an individual named Virgilio Pena. It seeks $110,000 from each for violation of the 1934 Communications Act and a further $60,000 each for violating a 1992 cable and television act.
The company was unable to serve summons on a third individual, Felix Martinez.
Judge Ivan Lemelle, of the U.S. District of the Eastern District of Louisiana, after confirming the default judgment, has asked for additional information on how the company calculated the amount it is owed.
The suing of establishments for allegedly illegally broadcasting sports events without paying a fee is controversial. It is estimated 1,000 suits are filed in federal court every year, with J&J Sports reportedly responsible for half of the actions.
In a major investigation published in 2016, the ABA Journal reported that a countersuit was filed in federal court in Illinois against J&J Sports and others alleging they were involved in a civil racketeering conspiracy.
The journal, which is managed by the American Bar Association, reported"thousands of small businesses and do-good organizations like Elks and Moose lodges—even American Legion posts—have been caught up with private lawyers who pay armies of freelance investigators to go into establishments and document pay-per-view theft."
Targeted businesses, the ABA reporrted, are "often owned by foreign-born proprietors who vary both in their facility with English and their ability to afford a legal defense."
In Louisiana, the main attorney responsible for filing lawsuits on behalf of J&J Sports, including the El Rancho case, is Ronnie J. Berthelot of The Berthelot Law Firm LLC in Baton Rouge.