Super City Boxing Productions, Inc. v. Louisiana State Athletic Commission

423 So. 2d 643, 1982 La. LEXIS 12604
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided November 29, 1982·No. Nos. 82-C-1153, 82-C-1189·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

MARCUS, Justice.

After a hearing on an appeal by Super City Boxing Productions, Inc. from a decision of the State Athletic Commission dated September 4, 1981 denying it the right to promote a boxing contest in Orleans Parish on September 16, 1981 and on an application by Super City for a preliminary injunction, the trial judge set aside the decision of the Commission and ordered that Super City be designated as the “sole club” to promote a boxing contest in Orleans Parish on September 16, 1981 and enjoined the New Orleans Boxing Club and Pace Management Corporation from televising or showing the Leonard-Hearns championship fight on September 16,1981 in Orleans Parish. The judgment was signed on September 15, 1981.

The State Athletic Commission, New Orleans Boxing Club and Pace Management Corporation appealed. The court of appeal affirmed.1 We granted the application of the State Athletic Commission and the joint application of the New Orleans Boxing Club and Pace Management Corporation to review the correctness of that decision.2

The record reveals the following facts. On June 25, 1981, it was announced nationwide that the Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy [645] Hearns championship fight would take place at an unknown site on September 16, 1981. On June 26, 1981 (the next day), Eddie Sapir, a representative of Super City, testified that he and Jimmy Walsh3 met with Lindsey J. Williams, chairman of the State Athletic Commission, in his (Sapir’s) office. The purpose of the meeting was to secure the date of September 16,1981 for a live championship bout. Williams gave Super City “tentative permission” to hold a live fight on that date. In addition, Sapir asked Anthony Marulla (another representative of Super City) “to see if he could get the Superdome on the 16th for a live world championship, either Sean O’Grady or Sal-vadore Sanchez.” Thereafter, Marulla met with Mike Levy of HMC Management Corporation 4 concerning the rental of the Su-perdome for September 16. However, Levy informed Marulla that a “hold” had been placed on the entire month of September by HMC for the purpose of presenting the live Leonard-Hearns fight or the closed circuit broadcast of said fight.

Subsequently, several events transpired. The proposed Sean O’Grady-Claude Noel championship fight was cancelled. The Leonard-Hearns live fight was awarded to Las Vegas, Nevada, combined with a closed circuit telecast to various states in this country and cities around the world. Pace Management Corporation purchased these closed circuit television rights for Louisiana and several other states. Pace then entered into a joint venture with Lou Messina of the New Orleans Boxing Club to televise the Leonard-Hearns fight on September 16, 1981 in the Superdome. This arrangement combined the promotional talents of Messi-na (a licensee) with the exclusive rights of Pace to televise the fight.5 On August 25, 1981, Messina wrote Levy of HMC informing him of this arrangement. At about this time, tickets went on sale for the closed circuit telecast of the Leonard-Hearns fight through Pace even though there had not been any formal approval granted by the Commission. On August 27,1981, a written complaint was sent to the Commission by Super City concerning Pace’s selling of tickets.

In response to the complaint of Super City, the Commission held meetings on August 31 and September 2, 1981, but took no action. However, at a meeting on September 4, 1981, the Commission reprimanded Messina6 and denied Super City “any further rights to the September 16 date on which to promote a professional boxing match.” This litigation ensued.

Since the Leonard-Hearns fight took place on September 16, 1981, the injunction restraining its telecast and the appeal from the Commission’s denial of the right of Super City to promote a fight on that day are most probably moot except for their possible effect on who gets the net proceeds of the gate, an issue which will ultimately have to be litigated.7 Because of this, appellants urge that we do not recall the writs granted in this matter for mootness. Since our decision in this matter may give practical relief and because judicial economy dictates that we resolve this suit rather than have the same issues go through our court [646] system once again, we will address the merits of the issues before us.

The issues are whether the Commission’s denial of the right of Super City to promote a boxing match in Orleans Parish on September 16, 1981 after having received “tentative permission” from one of its Commissioners constitutes a deprivation of a property interest and, if not, whether the Commission nonetheless acted arbitrarily or capriciously or abused its discretion.

Appellants contend that the “tentative permission” orally given by Commissioner Williams to Super City on June 26, 1981 to hold a live fight on September 16, 1981 did not create a property interest in Super City. We agree.

In Delta Bank & Trust Co. v. Lassiter, 383 So.2d 330 (La.1980), we discussed the concept of a property interest:

The Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution provides, in part, “... nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.... ” Article 1, § 2 of our state Constitution provides: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, except by due process of law.” As can be seen, the obvious, but sometimes overlooked, initial requirement in any due process claim is that the claimant show the existence of some property or liberty interest which has been adversely affected by state action. See e.g., Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972); Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth, 408 U.S. 564, 92 S.Ct. 2701, 33 L.Ed.2d 548 (1972).

In Roth, supra, the United States Supreme Court held that in order to have a property interest, a person “must have more than a unilateral expectation.... He must, instead, have a legitimate claim of entitlement. ...” Stated another way, a person must have a legitimate expectation.

Perhaps, when Super City was given “tentative permission” from Williams on June 26, there was a unilateral expectation on the part of Super City to promote a live fight on September 16. However, it was clearly not a legitimate expectation. To understand why, we must examine the controlling law on the subject.

La.R.S. 4:66 provides:

§ 66. Professional boxing contracts; permits

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Super City Boxing Productions, Inc. v. Louisiana State Athletic Commission, 423 So. 2d 643, 1982 La. LEXIS 12604 (La. 1982).

423 So. 2d 643 (Super City Boxing Productions, Inc. v. Louisiana State Athletic Commission) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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