PPV Firm Alleges Bar Owner Pirated Boxing Match, Then Closed Business

Rawnag Shaba, owner or operator of Bombshells Bar and Eats in Warren, Michigan, unlawfully intercepted and exhibited a boxing match in February and then closed a business when he learned G&G Closed Circuit Events, which owned exclusive nationwide rights to the match, planned to recover damages, alleges an amended complaint (docket 2:2023-cv-10031) filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Michigan in Detroit. Plaintiff G&G alleges Shaba and Green Patio, doing business as Bombshells Bar and Eats, pirated the match between Carlos Castro and Luis Nery “willfully” and for commercial or private gain, citing violation of the Communications Act of 1934 and the Cable & Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act. The plaintiff also claimed violation of Michigan’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, which allows a creditor to reach assets a debtor has transferred to another person for the purpose of keeping them from being used to satisfy a debt. G&G alleged Green Patio closed its business after receiving notice of the piracy lawsuit and that it “exists only on paper.” The plaintiff is seeking statutory damages of $170,000 against the defendants, plus court costs, attorneys’ fees and further relief.