Judge Wilken Pushes Back and Rejects Proposed House Settlement Following Rejection Of Her Expressed Concerns
By Gregg E. Clifton
After a lengthy period of deliberation and the filing of numerous objections and letters from concerned individuals, Northern District of California Judge Claudia Wilken has now threatened to reject the House v. NCAA settlement because of the issue of roster limits that are currently part of the deal. As part of her five-page order, Judge Wilken has informed counsel for the House plaintiffs, the NCAA and other defendants that she is granting them 14 days to construct an alternative plan to amend the current settlement terms and guarantee that current student-athletes on NCAA team rosters will not lose their roster spots as a result of the settlement. Failing presentation of such a revised proposal to her, she said she will not approve the settlement.
While Judge Wilken failed to offer the parties specific terms for potential inclusion in their modified agreement to satisfy her concerns, she did again suggest a potential stepped-in approach over the next few years to protect current athletes or a process of drafting language to grandfather protections for these same athletes. Specifically, Judge Wilken stated, “The Court finds that the decision by Defendants and the NCAA member schools to begin implementing the roster limits before the Court granted final approval of the settlement agreement is not a valid reason for approval of the agreement in its current form.” She continued by chastising the parties in the language of her order as follows, “ Any disruption that may occur is a problem of the Defendants’ and NCAA members schools’ own making.”
During an hours long hearing on April 7 before Judge Wilken, she listened intently while interacting with a group of hand-selected attorneys and student-athletes who appeared before her to discuss their thoughts and concerns with the proposed House settlement. She scheduled this hearing to provide interested parties and opportunity to express their views before the $2.8 billion settlement could be approved and confirmed by Judge Wilken.
During the witness testimony, Judge Wilken listened to the position of each witness that was expressed but by the end of the day she expressed her concerns about the issue of roster limits. Judge Wilken’s position clearly challenges the attorneys who drafted the and espoused its terms as fair for all student-athletes, that she will not let these attorneys forget the thousands of athletes who participate in NCAA sports as non-scholarship, walk-on student-athletes in mostly non-revenue sports. Her opinion confirms that she will not let these student-athlete be ignored and simply be displaced from their current positions by the immediate implementation of roster limits currently contained in the final settlement terms. Judge Wilken commented in her order, “Those class members will be harmed because their roster spot will be or has been taken away as a result of the immediate implementation of the settlement agreement.”
Her words send a clear message that the settlement agreement that is supposed to protect all NCAA student-athletes must in fact, do just that.
The parties now have 14 days to address Judge Wilken’s concerns that they have previously refused to address. Reacting the Judge’s order co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs Steve Berman commented, “……the NCAA and the defendants understand that if we don’t fix this then we’re off to trial…”
While Judge Wilken has ordered the parties to meet with each other and the mediator who has been involved in the settlement discussion in the next two weeks, Attorney Berman expressed that he believed both sides with present something for Judge Wilken’s consideration by the end of the month. It is clear that both sides are anxious to finalize this settlement as numerous colleges and universities prepare to utilize the proposed settlement terms to begin paying their student-athletes after July 1st.