Did you know that there was a class-action lawsuit after Super Bowl XLV? The game was played at Cowboys Stadium (now known as AT&T Stadium) in Dallas, Texas, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers. The litigation arose out of a temporary-seating debacle: the full complement of temporary seats was not installed in time, resulting in some ticketholders being left without seats and others being relocated. There was also another group of ticketholders who complained about a restricted view from their seats even though they did not receive the lower, restricted-view ticket price. On the field, the Packers defeated the Steelers 31-25. In the courtroom, the plaintiffs’ bid for class certification suffered the same fate as the Steelers. A look at the Fifth Circuit’s opinion in Ibe v. Jones, 836 F.3d 516 (5th Cir. 2016), provides some valuable insights.
