Legal Radar

U.S Court of Appeals Scrutinizing NCAA on Athlete Payments

The U.S. Court of Appeals is determining as to whether or not school athletes deserve a piece of the billions of dollars universities benefit from basketball and football, despite increased pressure for universities to offer their athletes better benefits.

The NCAA asked the 9^th Court of Appeals earlier this week to dump a ruling of offering student athletes some shared of revenue made for utilizing their likeness, names, and images.

In a court ruling last year, Oakland, California District Judge Claudia Wilken sided with a dozen former and current student athletes who threw an antitrust class action against the NCAA.

But in a court of appeals hearing early this week, two of the three judges in the 9^th Circuit panel seemed open to the NCAA being in violation of antitrust laws.

Currently, Judge Jay Bybee indicated that contracts signed by the NCAA with TV network consist language of player’s images and names. This suggests that such rights are essential assets that could be fall victim to anti-competitive actions by the NCAA.

Major League Gets a Home Run with Court of Appeals

It seems that Major League Baseball has hit a home run early this week before the U.S. Court of Appeals considering a contest to the sport’s long-running antitrust exemption.

A panel involving three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, was a little skeptical of legal arguments brought by the city of San Jose, California. The city wanted to be the future home for the Oakland Athletics team and claims the league and its team owners are in violation of the antitrust law that blocked the Athletics from making a move.

The city is saying that baseball’s exemption from antitrust laws should be carefully be read into within the context of player labor matters and shouldn’t apply to commercial matters such as relocation.

The 9th Circuit panel indicated its displeasure early and frequently. Alex Kozinski, a Chief Judge, indicated his own court’s decisions gave an interpretation of the exemption broadly.

Major League Baseball encouraged the Supreme Court not to be involved.

A court ruling is expected soon.

Islamabad SC: Sethi-Zaka Case Affected PCB

The Islamabad Supreme Court witnessed recently this week of the litigation involving two ex-chairmen of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi and Muhammad Zaka Ashraf, that triggered harm to both the board and cricket game at the local and international circuit.

Justice Mian Sagib Nisar indicated while people may have suffered or gained from the issue, the Pakistan Cricker Board has been impaired greatly in all aspects. This came from a 20-plus page verdict which illustrated reasons why the Supreme Court bench demanded the government to hire a chief election commissioner and an acting chairman to conduct a new PCB election.

The court gave Najam Sethi to hold on to the PCB chairman post until the election.

The judgment was carried out on an appeal done by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, against the previous high court verdict that re-instated Zaka Ashraf’s position as PCB chairman.

PCB’s reputation as a prominent, prestigious, and smooth functioning body was severely affected with the current litigation.

Minnesota Vikings Gearing Up for Litigation

The Minnesota Vikings are getting ready for a legal battle with their ex-teammate punter.

An attorney was hired by the team, who did a probe on the Miami Dolphins bullying issue as well as taking part in an integral role in marriage equality via settlement negotiations with Chris Kluwe.

The Vikings made the announcement recently this week by retaining Roberta Kalplan and Ted Wells. Kluwe will be suing the team after it disclosed a multi-page report summary that saw the team cutting him for football reasons. Kluwe demanded the report be made available for the public to view.

Ted Wells spearheaded the probe in the Miami Dolphins case that revealed Richie Incognito and a few other teammates to have taken part in continued harassment to team lineman Jonathan Martin.

Roberta Kaplan, on the other hand, successfully made an argument to the Supreme Court previously, in which part of the Defense of Marriage Act was deemed unconstitutional.

NCAA Facing Scholarship Litigation

So far this year, it’s been a whirlwind for the NCAA with its players filing for grievances before the labor boards, pushing for a conference autonomy, litigation regarding the O’Bannon trial, and concussion issues.

Further litigation led to accusing NCAA and several member conferences of anti-trust violations for price fixing scholarship value under the attendance cost.

A united class action group featuring over a dozen players is utilizing market-backed arguments to claim that the NCAA and its affiliated conference members have illegally capped player scholarships under attendance costs.

Plaintiffs argue that it should be conferences to set scholarship values --- not the NCAA. An optimal scenario would be for conferences to compete with each other to bring in new recruits to their schools by eliminating restrictions on financial aid negotiations.

Pressure from the National Labor Relations as well as a suit over scholarships have prompted the NCAA and conferences to go for reforms before they’re legally asked to.

NFL Saying Yes in Cap Removal Regarding Concussion Damages on Settlement Offer

The NFL agreed in a settlement to aid its retired players who suffer from dementia and other concussion-related damages from the sport.

The NFL and attorneys for over 4,000 plus NFL players who accused the league of concealing long term consequences of brain injuries handed a proposed deal in a Philadelphia federal court recently, which eliminates a cap on concussion damages related to the sport.

The deal won’t mean the legal battle with retired or ex-NFL players have concluded. Other NFL retirees filed a suit against the league last month in a federal court in San Francisco, alleging the league gave them pain killers and narcotics illegally that led them to addiction and long-term health issues.

A last approval hearing on a concussion case won’t likely happen until later this year. Cash rewards will be based on a player’s tenure in the league and his age at the time he started developing neuro-related disorders.

The settlement also urges the league to contribute $10 million on concussion prevention education.

Private School Files Suit Against Public School Athletic League

The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is an organized, non-profit group designed for conducting athletic competitions among public high school districts. Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) is one of the private schools located in Lynchburg, Virginia. LCA filed a lawsuit against the high school league because they have been barred from joining the VHSL. The private school states that they are being unfairly excluded from athletic events and competitions. LCA alleges that the rules of the VHSL are similar to a group boycott and that it is an "unreasonable restraint of trade" which is a violation of both the federal and state antitrust laws. LCA has argued that this prohibition of non-public schools cannot be justified in terms of promoting competition. The VHSL rules exclude memberships with non-public schools but have yet to comment on the case. LCA complains that they are being unfairly segregated and excluded from competition; they are requesting that the public and private schools in the area be integrated into a single athletic association.

Landmark Trial Between Athletes and NCAA set to Begin Later this Month

College athletes cannot presently receive any compensation except scholarships from the schools they play for. But U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken is set to hear both sides and determine whether or not the NCAA must share its billions of dollars in revenue with the athletes they use for their own commercial purposes. The bench trial is set to begin later this month. The case has been growing over the last five years and is centered around a request on the part of the players who desire that the NCAA stops enforcing rules that prohibit the athletes from being paid for playing on the college level. The athletes argue that the NCAA profits greatly and shares the profit with the schools while it is the athletes that make it possible The athletes do not receive any of the profit, and they are not allowed to profit monetarily for their playing efforts. The suit began in 2009 when a UCLA basketball star saw himself as an avatar on a NCAA brand video game. He felt it was unfair that the NCAA can profit while he was prohibited from receiving any of the proceeds.

Dolphins Facing Lawsuit after Scout Firing

The Dolphins will likely be facing a lawsuit from Nate Sullivan, a scout who believed he was fired for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. His attorney submitted a letter telling the team that Sullivan will start a litigation.

Sullivan had been allowed to work from his since 2004 as a result of treating his wife, Joanne, who was diagnosed with polyarteritis nodosa and cystic fibrosis.

Sullivan was given permission to work from home under three former general managers for the Dolphins. His work was further continued from ex-VP of football operations Nick Saban and Bill Parcels. If Sullivan could satisfactorily continue his work while working from home with the VPs running point, Sullivan could’ve resumed with his scouting position.

Sullivan says that Dennis Hickey, the new general manager, said that such arrangement never worked for him. The Dolphins will likely defend indicating the decision has no basis with Sullivan’s working arrangement, but instead stemming from his current job performance.

Paterno Family Waiting on Court Ruling with NCAA Lawsuit

Close to two years since Penn State University was struck with the Jerry Sandusky sexual child abuse issue, a legal battle between Joe Paterno’s family and the NCAA still continues.

In the next several weeks, a Pennsylvania judge is expected to make a ruling that could introduce new scrutiny to the agreement that the NCAA governing applied on Penn State.

Attorneys for the family of Mr. Paterno, who passed away in 2012, argued the NCAA failed to carry out their own probe of the scandal and failed to gather evidence needed on its own rules.

At a recent court hearing, NCCAA’s attorney insisted that the Paterno family has no standing to challenge the sanctions.

A report commissioned by the Penn State indicated that Mr. Paterno and his fellow campus officials never acted on allegations of sexual abuse which involved Sandusky, who was convicted two years ago in relation to sexually abusing a dozen boys within a 15-year time frame.

The family made claims that NCAA pressured the university to go with the sanctions by making threats to the school and allowing a complete football program suspension.