By Amanda Bronstad, From The National Law Journal

More than 40 class actions have been filed over last month’s highly publicized fight between Floyd Mayweather and Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, alleging that the boxers, their promoters and the cable networks airing the match misled viewers about the “Fight of the Century.”

Just after the May 2 fight, loser Pacquiao revealed that he had suffered a pre-existing torn rotator cuff prior to stepping into the ring at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. The suits, filed on behalf of individuals in 14 states, most of whom paid $89.95 to watch the fight on HBO and Showtime pay-per-view, claim that the promoters duped viewers into buying the program. Each boxer made more than $100 million from the fight.

“By failing to disclose that Pacquiao was injured prior to the fight, while still promoting and advertising the fight to plaintiffs and members of the classes and the public as a fair and honest sporting event between two healthy and uninjured participants, plaintiffs and the members of the classes represented in the related federal actions were deprived of what they paid for and injured financially,” wrote Hart Robinovitch, a plaintiffs lawyer who moved on May 8 to consolidate all the cases in the Central District of California given that Pacquiao injured his shoulder and was treated by doctors in Los Angeles prior to the fight. Robinovitch, a partner in the Scottsdale, Arizona, office of Minneapolis-based Zimmerman Reed, did not return a call for comment.

The suits name various defendants including the fight’s promoter, Top Rank Inc., and two of its principals, Robert Arum and Todd DuBoef; Pacquiao and his adviser, Michael Koncz, and trainer Frederick Roach; and Mayweather and his promoter, Mayweather Promotions LLC.

Some of the suits also named producers Home Box Office Inc. and Showtime Networks Inc., both based in New York. HBO, which is part of Time Warner Inc., along with Pacquiao and those affiliated with him, filed a combined June 4 court paper supporting coordination in the Central District of California.

“The lawsuits contain no legally valid claims, and we look forward to their prompt dismissal,” Daniel Petrocelli, chairman of the trial practice committee at O’Melveny & Myers, who represents the defendants, wrote in an email.

Showtime, which is part of CBS Corp., argued in a separate June 4 filing for consolidation in Nevada, citing Pacquiao’s failure to report the injury to the Nevada Athletic Commission. Its attorney, Yehudah Buchweitz, a partner at New York’s Weil, Gotshal & Manges, declined to comment.

In another June 4 filing, an attorney for the Mayweather defendants also argued that the cases should be consolidated in Nevada. Mayweather’s attorney, Ruth Bahe-Jachna, co-chairwoman of the class action litigation group and a shareholder in the Chicago office of Greenberg Traurig, did not respond to a request for comment.

Other plaintiffs attorneys have pushed for venues in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Florida and Illinois.

The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation is scheduled to hear arguments on consolidating the cases at its July 30 hearing in San Francisco.

IMAGE: Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, hits Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, during their welterweight title fight on Saturday, May 2, 2015 in Las Vegas.

Photo: Isaac Brekken/AP

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202730265848/MayweatherPacquiao-Fight-Sparks-More-Than-40-Class-Actions#ixzz3e4i4n9fD