Columnist Dean Juipe: Court ruling opens door for frivolity

Dean Juipe

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 10:58 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Let's have a class-action lawsuit. They seem to be all the rage, so let's add another.

If the Nevada Supreme Court is naive enough to allow a class-action suit to proceed against boxer Mike Tyson and promoter Don King, then surely everyone who sprang for the $50 to watch Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis Saturday on pay-per-view deserves a refund as well due to the ineptitude of the judges.

Tyson and King are being sued as a result of Tyson biting Holyfield's ears and being disqualified in their June 28, 1997, rematch at the MGM Grand Garden. One class-action suit against the two already exists in New York, and after last week's preposterous decision by the Nevada Supreme Court now there's one here, too.

The class-action suit in Nevada consolidates more than 30 individual suits that were filed across the nation. Amazingly and seemingly without justification, the Nevada Supreme Court favors the class-action suit being heard.

It should have laughed and moved on to more pressing matters.

Suddenly, it's as if sporting events are coming with money-back guarantees. Bought a ticket but didn't care for the performance, or the outcome or the way the sun glared into your face? Well, file suit.

What was the Nevada Supreme Court thinking? Even if the Tyson-Holyfield rematch was fixed or was insufficient for some vague reason as the suit implies, those who purchased tickets or a pay-per-view feed are not entitled to a refund -- let alone damages.

It's a sporting event. You pay your money, you take your chances.

Besides, the ear-biting incident has a notoriety that will stand for generations. Those who saw it live or on TV got a lot of verbal mileage out of their investment.

It's embarrassing to the state that it permitted the suit to continue and that it was assigned to Clark County district court. It defies reason and logic.

But as long as they're allowing such things, the 20,000 who bought tickets and the one million who purchased the Holyfield vs. Lewis fight in New York's Madison Square Garden on pay-per-view deserve some consideration. After all, this was a fight that actually had a fraudulent outcome.

Tyson's revolting actions may have brought a premature end to what should have been an exciting and fulfilling night, yet what happened with Lewis and Holyfield was far closer to criminal. Forget the class-action suit and put these guilty boxing judges in a public stockade or at least a mock jail.

Boxing is really pitiful at times and it has never looked more pitiful than it does right now in the aftermath of the Holyfield-Lewis draw. The only three people who felt Lewis didn't win easily were the three assigned to score the fight as the official judges.

Their shocking decision -- one had Holyfield winning, one had Lewis barely winning and one had it even -- will make everyone who paid for the fight think twice about doing it again. All of boxing will be affected.

The sport is overrun with incompetence. Everything about it is untrustworthy and no one is held accountable.

If that makes you want to sue someone for something, this looks like the time and Nevada looks like the place.

The welcome mat is out, so gather up some signatures.

There's gold in them thar bogus decisions.