Sean Morrison Entertainment, LLC et al v. Thompson et al

Contestants on a women’s mixed martial arts reality show called “Ultimate Women’s Challenge” were sued by the show’s owners and investors for willful misappropriation of trade secrets and tortuous interference with prospective economic advantage. Each of the sixteen female contestants on the show signed a “Participant Agreement and Release from Liability” before filming commenced. However, seven of the contestants filed a lawsuit against the show’s producer in Wisconsin circuit court and, in doing so, revealed the outcome of multiple matches and the ultimate winner of the series. The plaintiffs Sean Morrison Entertainment (SME) claimed that the lawsuit should have been filed under seal in order to prevent the events and outcome of the reality show from being revealed. Plaintiffs also claim that the contestants and their attorneys leaked details about “Ultimate Women’s Challenge” to the media and various websites. The lawyers who represented the contestants in the Wisconsin lawsuit were also been joined as defendants.

On December 28, 2011, the Northern Illinois District court dismissed the owner-investor claims against the MMA contestants for lack of personal or specific jurisdiction. The court asserted that SME’s alleged contacts were too attenuated for Illinois to be the proper forum for their claims. Further, citing only an “impact theory of minimal contacts,” the court concludes that SME failed to allege activities by Thompson et al “that create a substantial connection with the forum state.” (See Also Burger King v. 471 US at 475-476). Furthermore, the court found none of the individuals joined the action had any substantive connection to Illinois that would warrant personal jurisdiction for the court. Thus the Illinois court never reached the substantive issue of the trade secret misappropriation by the athletes in filing their separate Wisconsin matter, as the SME claim was dismissed for want of personal or specific jurisdiction.

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