A federal judge recently approved a settlement worth $ 60 million for college athletes as part of a class-action lawsuit which was filed against the NCAA as well as Electronic Arts.
Steve Berman, the Seattle-based lawyer on behalf of the plaintiffs, confirmed on Friday that a US district court judge from the Northern District of California, Claudia Wilken, has approved a settlement on Thursday during a hearing. Wilken has also ruled against the NCAA in Ed O’Bannon’s case where he challenged how the NCAA’s use of images, likenesses and names of college athletes. This ruling has been appealed by the NCAA.
The plaintiffs in these cases say that college football & basketball players’ likenesses and names were used illegally for years in video games. Player’s that have appeared in these games have to make their claims as part of their settlements by the 31st of July.
There were more than 20000 claims filed by the original deadline of the 2nd of July.
This landmark decision is the first time that student-athletes are going to be paid for their images or likenesses and is a major victory in the struggle for student-athletes’ rights.
The maximum amount that individuals were allowed to claim in this settlement was $ 7026. Players can expect these amounts in September depending on how fast the appeals get along.
Berman also said that Wilken told all attorney’s on the case that she may even reduce the costs & fees which they will be awarded from 33% to 30%.
A federal magistrate judge had earlier ordered the payment of $ 44.4 million as attorney’s fees by the NCAA along with a payment of $ 1.5 million in lawyer’s costs for the antitrust lawsuit filed against the NCAA by Ed O’Bannon, the UCLA basketball star.
The NCAA series of video games have been discontinued from 2013 onwards because of these pending legal cases with regard to the use of the names, likenesses and images of athletes.
