With the Ed O'Bannon vs. NCAA antitrust lawsuit finally settled in court, it has come time to talk dollars and cents, only the plaintiffs' lawyers are asking for a lot.
O'Bannon and the other plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit were not asking for individual damages, but their lawyers are entitled to have their legal fees and other expenses covered by the defendants. According to the Associated Press, O'Bannon's lead counsel Michael Hausfeld is asking for $50.2 million from the NCAA.
In a filing Tuesday night, Hausfeld said 41 law firms in all took part in the case and are owed $50.2 million in compensation. He said that his firm alone commands $15.2 million of that sum, the AP reported.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken will hold a hearing as early as Jan. before deciding how much the NCAA should have to pay. The NCAA is appealing Wilken's decision in the case, as she ruled in favor of O'Bannon, ordering an injunction to allow student-athletes profit off their name, image and likenesses, albeit with limitations.
"The complexities of, and risks associated with, this litigation defy comparison to most other contingent antitrust matters in recent history," the lawyers wrote in their filing, according to CBS Sports.
One thing the NCAA may have work against it is how long the case took to get to trial. O'Bannon first filed his lawsuit, which initially included EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company, in 2009. Lawyers for the defendants delayed the trial multiple times and sought to push it back even farther before it finally went to court in June.
The NCAA has not commented on the O'Bannon lawyers' filing, but have until Dec. 23 to make a formal response.
"The NCAA will undoubtedly contend that the number of hours expended here suggests inefficiency - yet, over the course of the past five years, its counsel threw up roadblocks to Plaintiffs at every opportunity and, time and time again, asked for separate briefing and motions for each defendant," the lawyers wrote. "In opting for scorched-earth litigation, the NCAA was well aware of the consequences for any fee petition in the event that it did not prevail."
