New Jersey Sports Productions, Inc. v. Don King Productions, Inc.
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
15 F.Supp.2d 534 (1998)
New Jersey Sports Productions, doing business as Main Events (ME) (plaintiff), had a contract with boxer Oliver McCall (codefendant) requiring a multimillion-dollar purse, payable at a New Jersey bank, for a Nevada fight that McCall quit early. McCall nonetheless claimed the purse, while ME claimed it based on McCall's alleged breach, and ME knew or reasonably anticipated that Don King Productions (DKP) and others (codefendants) had made or could make their own competing claims. ME, the only New Jersey resident among the claimants, moved for interpleader without specifying whether it invoked the statutory or rule-based version. DKP opposed on venue grounds, the absence of truly adverse claimants, and the priority of a pending Nevada disciplinary action against McCall; McCall separately argued the New Jersey court lacked personal jurisdiction over him.
Whether a New Jersey federal court may exercise interpleader jurisdiction over a disputed boxing purse when statutory and rule interpleader impose different jurisdictional, venue, and diversity requirements.