Judge vacates original trial date for LIV-Tour case, says it might be years before trial

A U.S. District Court judge has vacated the original trial date as the antitrust case filed last year against the PGA Tour is set to be mired by an appeal that could take years to resolve.

Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled that the original trial date of January 2024 is no longer tenable, following a Thursday motion by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. PIF and Al-Rumayyan informed the court they plan to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a ruling that they must submit to discovery in the case.

“It may be two years from now [before trial], and I want you to know that,” Labson Freeman cautioned attorneys during an hour-and-a-half case management conference on Zoom.

PIF and Al-Rumayyan, who were added as co-defendants when the Tour filed its counterclaim against LIV Golf last September, moved to quash the original subpoenas to compel discovery, based on sovereign immunity and jurisdictional claims. A magistrate judge, however, denied that motion and Labson Freeman upheld that ruling.

Labson Freeman declined a request by LIV and the three remaining players in the anti-trust lawsuit to bifurcate the two cases. “Not the proper way to proceed, to bifurcate. I don’t see how that solves the problem,” she said.

Labson Freeman did acknowledge that the entire case now depends on whether the Ninth Circuit agrees to hear PIF’s appeal and how long that ruling could take.

“This now becomes the piece of the litigation that may drive every other scheduling decision,” Labson Freeman said.

The Tour’s lead attorney, Elliot Peters, argued that without discovery and depositions from Al-Rumayyan and other PIF officials they will be unable to properly prepare for trial.

“PIF controls LIV, PIF controls this litigation, PIF controls the purse strings,” Peters said. “PIF and Al-Rumayyan are the most significant witnesses on the [Tour’s] side of this case.”

LIV’s lead attorney, John Quinn, also acknowledged how PIF’s appeal will complicate the case schedule. “Looking ahead, this could be an issue that goes to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said of the appeal.

Labson Freeman didn’t adjust the current discovery schedule and she informed both sides to continue to take depositions until they have a better idea of how the Ninth Circuit plans to proceed with PIF’s appeal.

“These depositions are going to go forward,” she said. “Let’s see what the Ninth Circuit does.”

On Thursday, an arbitration panel in the United Kingdom ruled in favor of the DP World Tour in a similar dispute with players who joined LIV Golf and had been fined by the European tour for violating that circuit’s conflicting event release regulations.