Court Upholds Dismissal Of Patriots Fans' Deflategate Lawsuit

BOSTON, MA -- The Massachusetts Appeals Court on Monday upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by New England Patriots fans against the National Football League. The fans were suing to get back the 2016 first-round draft pick the team lost after the Deflategate scandal.

"This case is brought by New England Patriots fans on behalf of all Patriots fans who believe the New England Patriots professional football team were harmed by the Defendants' arbitrary and capricious decision to revoke the Patriots first round draft choice in the April 28, 2016 NFL Draft," the plaintiffs wrote in their original complaint.

The lower court had dismissed the lawsuit, saying it was "not [a] prudent use of resources to permit this to progress" and because the plaintiffs had missed a 10-day deadline to file an appeal after the case was dismissed on Feb. 27, 2017. The appeal, which was filed in May 2017, tried to apply "the mailbox rule," which grants plaintiffs additional time for the assumption that rulings might take time to be delivered.

In addition to the NFL, the original lawsuit named NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Patriots Owner Robert Kraft as defendants. Maine-based attorney Seth Carey, who was one of the seven fans to sign the original lawsuit, was not immediately available for comment Monday.

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Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at [email protected] or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).