Losing Expensively: Delaware’s Awful Day in Court
I should have saved the article about it, but the state of Delaware is paying private attorneys from two law firms a lot of money to represent the state in a lawsuit filed by the USA's major professional sports leagues and the NCAA. The plaintiffs want to stop the state from proceeding to hold Los Vegas style sports betting beginning September 1, 2009. The money the state of Delaware paid these exemplary attorneys went down the crapper today: Delaware's proposal to launch single-game sports betting next week violates federal law and cannot proceed, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. The panel made its surprise ruling from the bench after a nearly two-hour hearing. Judge Theodore McKee said a written order outlining their ruling would be issued later today. Sports betting was set to start in Delaware Sept. 1. The case presented by the state's well paid attorneys was so bad that the three-judge panel didn't need to take much time to rule against the state. The judges virtually ruled from the bench: The panel was only expected to rule Monday on the issue of a temporary order to stop Delaware from launching sports betting with single-game wagers against a point spread and bets on all sports except pro football while the leagues' federal lawsuit moved through the court system. Although today's order was a temporary one pending a full hearing before the Circuit Court, the judges basically told the state's attorneys that the state's case has little chance of prevailing: And after leaving the bench and conferring together for about 40 minutes, the three judges -- McKee, Julio Fuentes and Thomas Hardiman -- returned to the bench and announced that not only did they think there was a "likelihood" the leagues would prevail at trial, but had decided the state's plan violated the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The state has 14 days to decide if it wants to appeal today's decision to the Circuit Court or directly to the US Supreme Court. Given the Circuit Court's language today about Delaware's chances, appealing to it seems like an exercise in futility. Besides, if Delaware's attorneys believe there might be reason to wonder about the constitutionality of the Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, then that would be decided by the Supreme Court eventually in any case. The rub is that Delaware counted on the legality of its new sports betting legislation to generate $17 million in revenue, an amount needed to balance the state's budget. Did the state of Delaware plan on this money for the purposes of creating a final budget bill but knowing full well that its case would be weak in Court? Regardless of the answer to that question, what will the state do now to make up the apparently lost $17 million in lost revenue? Will it require a special legislative session? Where will the $17 million come from? It seems that many recently past issues about how Delaware would resolve its budget shortfall have suddenly become relevant again. In the meantime, there is one bottom line the state should consider. If its legal case is weak, why spend a fortune on high priced attorneys for the rest of the court proceedings? There is no virtue in losing expensively.
However, during the oral arguments, members of the three-judge panel indicated there appeared to be no factual dispute between the state and the sports leagues and it was a simple matter of law that they could resolve at this stage.
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