$5 Million in Damages for a Partially Deflated Basketball?

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The “Neverflat” basketballs from Spalding retail for about $29, and are guaranteed to “stay fully inflated for at least one year.”

But a New York man who claims to have watched his Neverflat basketball slowly lose air over 12 months’ time has filed a class action lawsuit — and it could mean as much as $5 million in damages for Spalding.

Jaish Markos filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York, alleging that Russell Brands LLC made false claims about their “Neverflat” product. While it’s not uncommon for some products to be defective, most reasonable people only expect to be made whole by the company responsible for the product. Perhaps a replacement basketball.

And, while Markos is likely to receive pennies-on-the-dollar from any lawsuit settlement, the suit could be a slam dunk for his plaintiffs’ attorney, who could receive as much as 40% of the $5 million.

Funny enough, the remaining $3 million is enough to purchase 103,448 new basketballs — or a new basketball every single day for more than 283 years!