Golf caddies "lost their class-action lawsuit against the PGA Tour when a federal judge in California ruled they signed a contract with the tour that requires them to wear bibs as part of their uniform and cannot claim that corporate sponsorship on the bibs makes them 'human billboards,'" according to Doug Ferguson of the AP. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday night "with prejudice, which typically means it cannot be refiled." Chhabria "dismissed all seven of the contractual claims" in the lawsuit, which began with 81 caddies and "had grown to 168." At the heart of the lawsuit was a claim that the Tour was "using them as 'human billboards' because the bibs they wore on the course, which featured the logo of the title sponsor, amounted to advertising for which they received no compensation." Chhabria suggested in his ruling that the caddies' own complaint "worked against them." Ferguson noted the contract a caddie signs to work a PGA Tour event says that caddies "are to wear uniforms and identification badges prescribed by the tournament and the tour." Chhabria said the caddies in their brief acknowledge that the PGA Tour has "required caddies to wear bibs for decades" (AP, 2/10). Attorney Rick Meadow said that the Lanier Law Firm of Houston, which represents the caddies, is "considering grounds for an appeal." GOLFWEEK's Alex Miceli noted any time frame "is unknown," and without appeal, the case "is dead." The dismissal with prejudice "precludes them from bringing the case again using any of the same causes of action." The plaintiffs could "file for a motion for reconsideration or appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals" (GOLFWEEK.com, 2/10). Caddie attorney Gene Egdorf: "I'm not overly surprised, but I am disappointed. I will strongly advise my clients to appeal, I like our chances in appeal" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 2/10).
NOT A GLAMOUROUS LIFE: In California, Larry Bohannan writes the case is "just one of the problems caddies have with the way they are treated on the PGA Tour these days." Many wonder why they "don’t have access to certain areas of courses, why they are in a caddie tent during rain storms while the players are in the indoor locker rooms." Most are just "working week to week for small guarantees, hoping to get a big week when their player wins a tournament and the caddie gets a percentage of the money." It is "not the glamorous life of the professional golfers by any means" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 2/11).
