The lawsuit filed by Fanatics against Cardinals receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. keeps getting more and more interesting.
Via attorney Paul Lesko on X, Fanatics has now added Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. to the lawsuit as a defendant.
The move makes plenty of sense, given that Harrison Jr. has made the argument that Harrison Sr. and not Harrison Jr. signed the “Binding Term Sheet” that ostensibly created a contract between Fanatics and Harrison Jr. The amended complaint includes another wrinkle — Fanatics accuses Harrison Sr. of signing the document in a way that was calculated to create the impression that Harrison Jr. had signed it.
And Fanatics makes no bones about the company’s current contention. They accuse the Harrisons of committing fraud by knowingly inducing Fanatics to commit to an agreement that Harrison Jr. never intended to fully honor.
Thus, by making the “there’s no contract because Harrison Sr. not Harrison Jr. signed it,” Harrison Jr. and Harrison Sr. have provoked Fanatics to sue Harrison Sr. And to sue both of them for fraud.
It’s a massive unforced error by the Harrisons. For starters, the signature shell game wasn’t going to be a silver bullet, mainly since Harrison Jr. performed the contract that his father had signed for a year. Now, Fanatics has unlocked the ability to sue both Harrisons, and to extend the case beyond the more limited breach-of-contract damages to the broader scope of recovery available in a tort case.