Fanatics Wins Dismissal in Consumer Trading Card Lawsuit

The Fanatics trading card lawsuit has been dismissed, with a federal judge ruling that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue. In the order, the court found the complaint legally deficient and dismissed it in its entirety without prejudice, marking a clear win for Fanatics in the consumer case.

Fanatics also welcomed the ruling in a statement provided after the decision: “We said from the start that this was a baseless and fundamentally flawed lawsuit since Fanatics was being accused of raising prices on cards we didn’t even produce. The Court agreed and ruled that the plaintiffs did not even have standing to sue. We are happy the Court has now ruled the complaint legally deficient and dismissed it.”

The court’s opinion centered on standing, concluding that the named plaintiffs did not adequately allege that they overpaid or would imminently overpay for trading cards sold by the defendants. That threshold issue proved decisive, and the court granted the motions to dismiss in full.

Why the Fanatics trading card lawsuit was dismissed

The court made clear that the key issue was not a broad merits ruling on the trading card business itself, but whether the plaintiffs had alleged a concrete injury sufficient to bring the case in federal court. The opinion states that “none of the named Plaintiffs adequately allege that they have overpaid or will imminently overpay for trading cards sold by Defendants,” and held that this was not enough to establish Article III standing.

That finding was especially important for the NBA and NFL portions of the lawsuit. The court noted that when the amended complaint was filed, Fanatics had not yet begun producing the fully licensed NBA and NFL cards at issue, which meant the alleged future injury was too speculative as pleaded.

That lines up closely with Fanatics’ public position throughout the case, including its statement that the lawsuit was flawed because it accused the company of raising prices on cards it did not even produce.

Fanatics statement emphasizes court’s standing decision

Fanatics’ response to the ruling focused on the same point the court found dispositive: standing.

In its statement after the dismissal, the company said the lawsuit was “baseless and fundamentally flawed” and pointed to the court’s conclusion that the plaintiffs “did not even have standing to sue.” That framing mirrors the core holding in the order, which dismissed the complaint after finding the plaintiffs had not adequately alleged actual or imminent harm tied to their purchases.

For readers, that makes this a straightforward result. The court did not allow the consumer complaint to move forward in its current form.

What happens next?

Although the dismissal is a clear win for Fanatics, the order was entered without prejudice. The plaintiffs were given three weeks to seek leave to file another amended complaint. The court also noted that if they do not do so in a timely manner, or cannot show amendment would not be futile, the case could then be dismissed with prejudice.

For now, though, Fanatics has the ruling it wanted: the complaint was dismissed in full, and the court agreed the plaintiffs had not adequately established standing to bring the case.

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