Ed O’Bannon’s class-action lawsuit against the NCAA is getting someone rich, but as of now, it’s not current student-athletes.
It’s the lawyers.
According to a report from USA Today this week, a judge has ordered that the NCAA must pay O’Bannon’s lawyers upwards of $46 million in attorneys’ fees and court costs. $46 million!
The decision came almost a year after Judge Claudia Wilken ruled that the NCAA’s amateurism rules violate antitrust laws and represent unreasonable restraints on trade. The case did not include financial damages, but Wilken ruled that the plaintiffs were allowed to recover their costs from the NCAA.
The NCAA appealed the ruling, and while oral arguments were heard by a three-judge panel in mid-March, there has not yet been any movement in the case.