Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund can hold off on providing evidence in the antitrust battle between the PGA Tour Inc. and LIV Golf while a US appeals court decides whether they must participate in the case, a judge said.
Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, are asking the appeals court to overturn a US magistrate judge’s February ruling that requires them to testify under oath and produce documents to the PGA Tour.
US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman said in a ruling Wednesday that the fund and its chief “will be irreparably harmed” if pretrial information sharing, known as discovery, isn’t temporarily halted, while the PGA Tour will not be “substantially injured.”
Freeman also denied the PGA Tour’s request to pause gathering of all evidence in the case as PIF’s appeal plays out, agreeing with LIV that keeping that process going is necessary help preserve evidence.
“Memories fade, and documents may disappear over time,” Freeman wrote. “Thus, a full halt of discovery would harm the litigation process.”
A representative of LIV declined to comment. The PGA Tour didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read More: Saudi Fund Boss Ordered to Testify in PGA-LIV Golf Suit
LIV sued the PGA Tour last year for allegedly engaging in monopolistic behavior by using restrictive rules intended to deprive golfers from playing in rival leagues. The PGA sought subpoenas to gather additional material to support its claims in its countersuit that LIV illegally pushed players to break contracts with the legacy US-based tour by offering them exorbitant sums of money.
Attorneys for the Saudi fund had argued that sovereign immunity shields PIF and Al-Rumayyan from providing evidence in US courts. But US Magistrate Judge Susan Van Keulen ruled in favor of the PGA Tour, which said commercial activities are excluded from sovereign immunity protection under US law.
The case is Jones v. PGA Tour Inc., 22-cv-04486, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
