The PGA Tour Inc. won a court ruling directing Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to provide evidence in an acrimonious antitrust battle with LIV Golf, the rival upstart backed by the oil-rich kingdom.
(Bloomberg) —
The PGA Tour Inc. won a court ruling directing Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to provide evidence in an acrimonious antitrust battle with LIV Golf, the rival upstart backed by the oil-rich kingdom.
US Magistrate Judge Susan Van Keulen granted PGA’s request to force the Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, to testify under oath and produce documents.
With a subpoena, the PGA will be able to gather additional material to bolster its claims that LIV unlawfully pushed players to break contracts with the US-based tour by offering them exorbitant sums of money.
Attorneys for the Saudi fund had argued that sovereign immunity shields PIF and Al-Rumayyan from providing evidence in US courts. Van Keulen rejected that argument.
A federal district judge in San Jose, California, has set a hearing in May on a separate request by the PGA to allow it to revise its claims to include the fund and its chief as defendants.
A spokesperson for the PGA Tour and a spokesperson for LIV Golf didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours.
At a hearing in January, Elliot Peters, an attorney representing the PGA, claimed that PIF and Al-Rumayyan are involved in LIV’s day-to-day operations, including negotiating player contracts and broadcast deals. Commercial activities are excluded from sovereign immunity protection under US law, Peters argued.
PIF and Al-Rumayyan’s attorneys argued that their clients have said that they never participated in player negotiations or conducted business for LIV and that a subpoena would force them to violate confidentiality laws of Saudi Arabia.
The fight between the two tours began when 11 professional golfers, including Phil Mickelson, Talor Gooch and Matt Jones, sued the PGA in August for suspending them after they signed on with LIV. LIV joined the suit a month later, prompting Mickelson, Gooch and others to withdraw from the suit.
PGA then countersued, claiming LIV’s alleged interference with the PGA players’ contracts harmed its brand and reputation.
LIV claims PGA is a monopolist seeking to sabotage competition in the professional golf industry.
The case is Jones v. PGA Tour Inc., 22-cv-04486, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
(Updates with background on dispute.)
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