Both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have officially motioned to drop their respective legal cases against each other, signaling what may be the beginning to the end of a lengthy battle in court that lasted nearly a year.
On Friday both parties voluntarily dismissed all claims against each other, with prejudice, meaning the claims previously made in the two lawsuits can’t be refiled or pursued. According to Friday’s filing, “all parties bear their own fees and costs.”
Last week’s news of the partnership between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund noted that all pending litigation between the Tour and LIV would be dismissed as the two sides worked to create a new, for profit global golf entity.
The original lawsuit was filed in August of 2022 by Phil Mickelson and went on to include 10 other players, but was taken over by LIV Golf, which is almost exclusively financed by the PIF, after plays slowly removed their names. The wealth fund, organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.
The Tour then filed a countersuit against LIV. In February, the court ruled the Tour could add the PIF and Al-Rumayyan as defendants in its countersuit, which drug the financiers deeper into the judicial weeds.
Earlier in the day, the New York Times asked a judge in the U.S. Northern District of California to unseal documents “in their entirety” relating to the legal battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, citing the public’s First Amendment and common law rights to public records. The Times requested the judge schedule a hearing on Aug. 3, or soon thereafter, to consider its motion.
There is not only precedent in U.S. courts that states settlement does not moot the public’s right of access, but lawyers for the Times argue it would only elevate the public interest even more.
The U.S. Department of Justice was already investing the Tour for antitrust behavior, but earlier this week it was reported the Justice Department is also reviewing the proposed deal between the Tour and PIF, same with the U.S. Senate.
