Plaintiffs Seek NCAA Student Athlete Licensing Class Action Clarity

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A group of plaintiffs are requesting that U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken clarify her injunction providing for future payments to end an NCAA student athlete licensing class action lawsuit.

Led by former NCAA basketball player Ed O’Bannon, the thousands of players say that by capping the revenues that players can enjoy to just tuition, room and board, the colleges are illegally keeping revenue that the players help generate from them. Sources include named defendants Electronics Arts as well as broadcast deals with various networks. The injunction, barring appeal, provides closure in the long-running case.

However, the issue for both the National Collegiate Athletic Association and putative plaintiffs who are currently in school is the phrasing of her order. It provides for up to $5,000 to be set aside in trust funds for each player in NCAA Division 1 Football and basketball, but which “will not take effect until the start of [the] next FBS football and Division I basketball recruiting cycle, which means August 1, 2015, the date on which written offer letters can first be sent to student-athletes enrolling in college after July 1, 2016.”

Current players argue that there is significant ambiguity there because, while not commonly known, many NCAA student athletes are not guaranteed the “full ride” or four-year scholarship but rather only have a year-to-year agreement or one short of the full four years. The players and their class action lawyers also disagree with the NCAA which believes that the injunction should only apply to new students who enroll after July 1, 2016.

Instead, they argue that Judge Wilken should be equitable and open it up to all who may be effected. Specifically, they believe here is a far more elegant solution, which Plaintiffs have raised with the NCAA and which Plaintiffs believe to be the Court’s intention as written: that the injunction does not adhere to any student-athlete until the next recruiting cycle begins on Aug. 1, 2015.

They go on to say that by doing so, the judge would satisfy the NCAA’s concerns about any potential ambiguity as well.

The plaintiffs are represented by class action lawyers from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, Paynter Law Firm PLLC , The Lanier Law Firm, and other practices.

The NCAA Student Athlete Licensing Class Action Lawsuit is Ed O’Bannon Jr., et al. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, et al., Case No. 09-cv-03329, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.