A class-action lawsuit accusing Fanatics and major sports leagues of antitrust violations in the trading-card market is officially over.
The case, Scaturo v. Fanatics, was dismissed with prejudice in the Southern District of New York, according to a June 2 court order signed by Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain. That means the plaintiffs cannot refile the same lawsuit.
The development matters beyond one dismissed complaint. The lawsuit borrowed many of the same themes from Panini’s separate antitrust battle against Fanatics, a much larger fight that continues to hang over the sports-card industry as Fanatics expands its footprint through Topps and exclusive league licensing deals.
The plaintiffs in Scaturo v. Fanatics moved on June 1 to voluntarily dismiss the action with prejudice. Swain granted the request the next day. The order also directed the parties to meet and confer and submit a joint status letter within seven days about whether a pending sanctions motion remained live or whether the dismissal made it moot.
Fanatics framed the ending as validation of its position from the start.
“We said from the start that this was a baseless and fundamentally flawed copycat lawsuit, since Fanatics was being accused of raising prices on cards we didn’t even produce,” a Fanatics spokesperson wrote in a statement sent to Heavy. “The Court agreed and ruled that this case was legally deficient. We are happy that the case has now been fully dismissed with prejudice.”
Why the Fanatics Ruling Matters for the Hobby
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2025 by collector Robert Scaturo, an Austin, Texas resident, along with other plaintiffs. It named Fanatics entities as defendants, along with Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, their respective players associations and OneTeam Partners.
The case took aim at the structure of the modern trading-card market, where league and players association licenses determine which companies can produce official cards using team logos, uniforms and player likenesses.
But in March 2026, Swain dismissed the complaint after finding the plaintiffs had not adequately established that they suffered financial harm or paid artificially inflated prices because of the alleged conduct. The plaintiffs still had a path to try to revive the case through further motion practice or appeal. They did not take it.
That is what makes the latest filing significant. A dismissal without prejudice can leave the door open. A dismissal with prejudice shuts it.
For collectors, the ruling does not resolve every fight over the future of sports cards. It does, however, remove one consumer class-action threat against Fanatics, the leagues and the players associations at a time when the hobby is still adjusting to Fanatics’ growing control of major licensed products.
Panini’s Separate Fanatics Case Still Looms
The bigger unresolved question is what, if anything, this means for Panini’s separate antitrust case against Fanatics.
The cases are not identical. Panini is a direct competitor alleging business harm, while the Scaturo plaintiffs were consumers trying to show they paid more for cards because of the alleged conduct. That distinction matters legally and factually.
Still, the overlap in allegations made the dismissal notable inside the hobby. Paul Lesko, a lawyer who closely follows sports-card litigation, pointed to that connection in March.
“It also shouldn’t be lost as to what this decision potentially means for Panini’s antitrust case against Fanatics,” Lesko wrote on X. “Panini can not [sic] be very happy … especially since the same judge that just dismissed this case is the same judge in the Panini v. Fanatics case.”
Panini can not be very happy this morning….especially since the same judge that just dismissed this case is the same judge in the Panini v. Fanatics case.
Lesko added that the Panini case was “looking more vulnerable.”
That does not mean Panini’s lawsuit is doomed. Panini’s claims involve its own alleged competitive injuries and business relationships, which are different from a collector class-action claim about card prices. But the Scaturo result gives Fanatics a clean legal win in a related fight and a fresh talking point as the broader litigation continues.
For now, the practical takeaway is simple: one of the hobby’s major Fanatics lawsuits is dead for good. The bigger Fanatics-Panini fight is still the one to watch.
Fanatics Scores Final Win in Sports Card Class-Action Lawsuit