$24 Million Federal Class-Action Settlement for St. Louis Rams PSL Holders

When the St. Louis Rams announced in January 2016 that they would leave Missouri for a new stadium in Inglewood, California, thousands of local fans were left holding personal seat licenses they had purchased for up to 30 seasons. Those PSLs had been sold with the understanding that the team would remain at the domed stadium in St. Louis for the full term of the facility's lease. The relocation came nine seasons early.

Fans who purchased PSLs through Fans Inc. at the close of the 2015 season formed the FANS class. A second group, the Rams class, covered holders who had bought PSLs directly from the team, received transfers, or upgraded their seat tiers over the years. Three separate lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and consolidated under Case No. 4:16-cv-00172-SNLJ before Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.

The Bruning Law Firm, with Anthony S. Bruning and Ryan L. Bruning serving as lead counsel for the FANS class, argued that the team's departure breached the contractual obligations attached to the PSLs. The plaintiffs sought compensation representing roughly 30 percent of the original purchase price for each license, reflecting the nine seasons of unused value remaining under the stadium lease term.

After years of litigation, the parties reached a settlement providing $24 million in direct payments to class members. Judge Limbaugh granted final approval on June 24, 2019. The Rams separately paid $7.2 million in attorney fees and $200,000 in litigation costs, keeping those amounts outside the class fund. Each qualifying PSL holder received a cash payment calculated at 30 percent of the face value of their original license price.

The settlement resolved what had been one of the most closely watched sports-relocation breach-of-contract cases in the country, returning money directly to the St. Louis fans who had invested in the franchise's future at a time when the team chose to leave.