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Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. — Fanatics refiled its lawsuit against Arizona Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. late last week, expanding it to included fraud allegations against his father, Marvin Harrison Sr.
In the revised suit, which was filed Friday in the New York State Supreme Court, Fanatics named Pro Football Hall of Famer Harrison Sr. as a party in the suit and alleges that he “aided and abetted Harrison Jr.’s fraud on Fanatics.”
The impetus for Fanatics’ suit against Harrison Jr., which was filed on May 18, is an alleged breach of contract by Harrison Jr. Fanatics’ refiled suit claims that the defendants in the case “deliberately misled Fanatics into believing there was a binding contract between Harrison Jr., his company, and Fanatics, and that Harrison Jr. had signed that contract.”
The suit also claims that “Harrison Sr. further led Fanatics to believe that Harrison Jr. had signed the Binding Term Sheet.”
The new allegations stem from two affidavits — one from Harrison Jr. and one from Harrison Sr. — filed on July 31 that stated that it was Harrison Sr., not Harrison Jr., who signed the binding term sheet that’s at the center of the lawsuit. Both affidavits were written to be true under the penalty of perjury.
Fanatics revised its counts from four to six while replacing two initial counts. Fanatics claims that it was led to believe that it was negotiating the binding term sheet with Harrison Jr. through Harrison Sr., but that it would be Harrison Jr. who would sign the term sheet. That belief was dismantled with the July affidavits from Harrison Jr. and Harrison Sr.
In the revised suit, Fanatics claims that the signature on the binding term sheet “bears a striking resemblance” to Harrison Jr.’s signature on both the W-9 that Harrison Jr. had to provide for his company, The Official Harrison Collection, as well as the autographs being sold on the company’s website.
Along with the revised suit, Fanatics also filed examples of Harrison Jr.’s signature from the term sheet, an autograph from his company’s website and his W-9, along with his father’s signature. Fanatics claims that Harrison Jr., Harrison Sr. and The Official Harrison Collection “executed the Binding Term Sheet to further their own self-interest and to obtain negotiating leverage with other licensees in order to gain even larger profits.”
New details were included in the revised suit, including that when Fanatics sent Harrison Sr. a copy of the binding term sheet in May 2023, Fanatics said its understanding was that the deal was between Harrison Jr. and Fanatics.
In his affidavit from July 26, Harrison Jr. said: “I never intended to be personally bound by the ‘Binding Term Sheet’ and I am not personally bound by it.” The suit claims that Harrison Sr. never disputed that.
The revised suit also claims that Harrison Jr., The Official Harrison Collection and Fanatics had three agreements “executed or contemplated”: a promotion and license agreement, the Binding Term Sheet and an amended and restated promotion and license agreement.
Harrison Jr.’s affidavit from July 26, the third day of Cardinals’ training camp, centers around Harrison Jr. saying the agreement with Fanatics was between his company, The Official Harrison Collection, and Fanatics, and not between himself and Fanatics.
“It is not an agreement between Fanatics and me,” Harrison Jr. said in the filing. “I was never requested to, nor did I ever, sign any document that personally obligated me to do anything concerning the ‘Binding Term Sheet.'”
Also, in mid-August, a letter was sent to the judge from Fanatics’ attorney saying that both parties agreed on potential mediators. The court told the attorney, Robert Longtin, that the name of the mediator needed to be sent to the court by Sept. 6.