International Swimming League, Ltd v. World Aquatics

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedNovember 20, 2025
Docket3:18-cv-07394
StatusUnknown

This text of International Swimming League, Ltd v. World Aquatics (International Swimming League, Ltd v. World Aquatics) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
International Swimming League, Ltd v. World Aquatics, (N.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING Case No. 18-cv-07394-JSC LEAGUE, LTD, 8 Plaintiff, ORDER FOLLOWING PRETRIAL 9 CONFERENCE AND RE: MOTIONS IN v. LIMINE 10 WORLD AQUATICS, Re: Dkt. Nos. 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 489, 11 Defendant. 491, 492, 493, 495, 496 12

13 Jury trial is scheduled to commence on January 12, 2025. The Court held a pretrial 14 conference with the parties on November 18, 2025. 15 I. MOTIONS IN LIMINE 16 A. Plaintiff’s Motions in Limine 17 1. Motion in Limine 1: To Limit Paul K. Meyer’s Testimony (Dkt. No. 18 485) 19 Plaintiff seeks to limit the testimony of Defendant’s accounting and rebuttal expert, Paul 20 K. Meyer, “to matters of accounting, and to exclude his repetition of record facts, speculation 21 about state of mind, and vouching for World Aquatics’ other experts’ testimony.” (Dkt. No. 485 22 at 2.) As Mr. Meyer provides proper rebuttal testimony, the Court DENIES the motion. 23 2. Motion in Limine 2: To Preclude Evidence or Argument Concerning Konstantin Grigorishin’s Russian or Other Foreign Sanctions or 24 Criminal Convictions (Dkt. No. 486) 25 Plaintiff argues evidence or argument concerning Konstantin Grigorishin’s criminal or 26 sanctions history is inadmissible to prove Mr. Grigorishin’s character or impeach his testimony. 27 See Fed. R. Evid. 404(a), 609(a). Defendant contends it plans to “offer testimony and evidence 1 evidence of future wrongdoing, but to prove ‘the falsity of [ISL’s] representation’ regarding 2 damages as well as independent reasons for World Aquatics’ and sponsors’ conduct.” (Dkt. No. 3 486 at 13 (citation omitted).) Under Rule 404(b), “unless the evidence of other crimes tends only 4 to prove propensity, it is admissible.” Boyd v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, 576 F.3d 938, 947 5 (9th Cir. 2009) (cleaned up); see also Fed. R. Evid. 404(b)(2) (noting non-propensity purposes 6 “such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of 7 mistake, or lack of accident”). 8 Although Defendant states it does not intend to use Mr. Grigorishin’s background as 9 propensity evidence, to this extent, Plaintiff’s motion is GRANTED. However, the motion is 10 DENIED to the extent Plaintiff seeks to prohibit Defendant from using the information as 11 evidence as to why Defendant and third parties may not have wanted to work with Plaintiff. The 12 parties shall work together on how this evidence will be presented, that is, how much detail needs 13 to be shared with the jury. 14 3. Motion in Limine 3: To Preclude Evidence or Argument That ISL Lacks Standing to Pursue Damages Due to Entities Through Which 15 Funds Flowed (Dkt. No. 487) 16 Plaintiff moves to preclude evidence or argument it “lacks standing to pursue its damages 17 claims because its lost profits would have been earned by related entities and its increased 18 expenses were incurred by entities with whom [it] has contractual relationships” because such 19 evidence would be distracting and open the door to evidence related to its Second Motion in 20 Limine. (Dkt. No. 487 at 2.) See Fed. R. Evid. 403. 21 a. Ownership of Sponsors 22 To the extent Plaintiff’s motion seeks to exclude evidence of the related ownership of 23 supposed sponsors of ISL events, Plaintiff’s motion is DENIED. As Defendant argues:

24 ISL’s lost profit projections are based, in part, on a number of supposed ‘sponsorships’ ISL claims it secured in 2019. World 25 Aquatics is entitled to present evidence regarding the various shell companies that were the source of those ‘sponsorships’ to show that 26 ISL never actually secured legitimate sponsors, but rather relied on non-arm’s-length ‘sponsorships’ from entities affiliated with Mr. 27 Grigorishin and ISL. . . . ISL cannot put forth evidence of sponsorship showing that those revenues actually came from Mr. Grigorishin’s 1 shell companies. World Aquatics intends to demonstrate that, aside from Mr. Grigorishin’s entities, no actual sponsors were seriously 2 interested in ISL’s event, even after ISL staged numerous events with top-tier swimmers. 3 (Dkt. No. 487 at 9, 14-15.) 4 b. Expenses Paid by Other Related Entities 5 Plaintiff primarily seeks to preclude evidence and argument it lacks standing because its 6 expenses were incurred by other entities. For the reasons discussed at the pretrial conference, the 7 Court holds this portion of the motion in limine in abeyance pending supplemental briefing. 8 Plaintiff shall file its brief by Tuesday, December 2, 2025, and Defendant shall file its response by 9 Tuesday, December 16, 2025. 10 B. DEFENDANT’S MOTIONS IN LIMINE 11 1. Motion in Limine 1: To Exclude Untimely and Undisclosed Merits 12 Expert Testimony (Dkt. No. 489) 13 Defendant seeks to prevent Plaintiff from introducing the opinions of Dr. Daniel Rascher, 14 the Shields class certification and damages expert, as a merits expert on anticompetitive effects. 15 Defendant argues because the Court ruled—and the Ninth Circuit affirmed—Plaintiff had missed 16 the merits expert deadline, the law of the case prevents Plaintiff from using Dr. Rascher as a 17 merits expert. However, the law of the case as Defendant defines it does not exist. The Ninth 18 Circuit did affirm this Court’s ruling Plaintiff had missed the merits expert report deadline and 19 could not disclose merits experts. (Dkt. No. 346 at 4, 7, 12; Dkt. No. 450 at 6-7.) However, the 20 Court did not prohibit Plaintiff from using Dr. Rascher’s testimony as evidence of direct 21 anticompetitive effects. Instead, the Court held Plaintiff had not identified sufficient evidence of 22 direct anticompetitive effects, and wrote:

23 Putting aside that [Dr. Rascher] is a damages rather than merits expert, he (unsurprisingly) provides no testimony that disputes the 24 evidence ISL did not need FINA to sponsor top-tier international swimming competitions. 25 (Dkt. No. 419 at 19.) However, the Ninth Circuit reversed this Court’s summary judgment order 26 because “Plaintiffs have raised a triable dispute under the rule of reason through direct evidence of 27 anticompetitive effects.” (Dkt. No. 450 at 8.) So, contrary to Defendant’s insistence, this Court 1 and the Ninth Circuit never ruled any party could not call at trial existing and properly-disclosed 2 experts used in connection with class certification. Furthermore, Defendant had a full opportunity 3 to challenge Dr. Rascher. 4 The Court therefore DENIES the motion. Dr. Rascher may testify consistent with—but 5 not beyond—his report, to the extent relevant to an issue in the case. 6 2. Motion in Limine 2: To Exclude Argument and Evidence Regarding the European Commission’s Case Against the International Skating 7 Union (Dkt. No. 491) 8 Defendant seeks to exclude any evidence of the European Commission (“EC”) proceedings 9 against the International Skating Union (“ISU”) as irrelevant and unfairly prejudicial. See Fed. R. 10 Evid. 402, 403. However, as Plaintiff argues, Defendant’s discussions about the EC’s ISU 11 proceedings are relevant to show Defendant understood its invocation of GR 4 was a threat to 12 swimmers and national federations, and national federations understood it similarly. This 13 evidence also rebuts Defendant’s defense it did not invoke GR 4 to threaten federations or 14 swimmers. So, the discussions may help Plaintiff show Defendant’s anticompetitive intent and 15 purpose. See Sidibe v. Sutter Health, 103 F.4th 675

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Bluebook (online)
International Swimming League, Ltd v. World Aquatics, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/international-swimming-league-ltd-v-world-aquatics-cand-2025.