March is usually the best month of the year for the NCAA but March 2018 was the stuff of nightmares from its perspective.
While the lights of the annual NCAA D1 men’s basketball tournament have been bright with unprecedented Cinderella stories, off the hardwood March 2018 went about as poorly as it could for the NCAA.
Significant developments in two civil lawsuits which came as bookends to the month both went poorly for the NCAA. One lawsuit threatens to place liability for CTE on the NCAA, while the other threatens to radically redefine the NCAA’s role in adjudicating athlete compensation. The two lawsuits are Ploetz v. NCAA and Jenkins v. NCAA.
The NCAA appears in the CTE lineup: Ploetz v. NCAA
Debbie Ploetz, the widow of former Texas Longhorn football player Greg Ploetz, sued the NCAA in 2017. Greg was diagnosed with CTE post-mortem in 2015. Like many other similar lawsuits, Debbie alleged in her lawsuit that the NCAA knew or should have known about the danger of neurological disease while Greg was playing college football and failed to educate him about the risks.
After a trial date was originally set for Jan. 22, the NCAA began its attempts to stymie the progress of the lawsuit by asking the Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to limit the discovery process of the lawsuit. For those unfamiliar with that term, that is the period of time prior to a trial being held when sides of the dispute exchange and gather information in order to make their arguments.
On March 1, the appeals court largely upheld the original discovery order, much to the NCAA’s chagrin. Although the NCAA was granted the right to withhold from discovery any documentation which could reveal a potential athlete injury not caused by blows to the head, Ploetz’s counsel was given access to NCAA internal communications regarding athlete injuries from 1950 through 2017. Additionally, the appeals court lifted a stay issued by the trial court allowing Ploetz’s lawyers to depose the NCAA’s chief medical officer, Dr. Brian Hainline.
If Ploetz and the NCAA don’t reach settlement prior and the case does proceed to trial, it’s possible that the situation could go from bad to worse for the NCAA. In that scenario, this case would represent the first time that a lawsuit involving CTE and a major sports league will have actually seen a courtroom. The NHL’s concussion litigation has not yet reached trial and the NFL settled its concussion lawsuit prior to trial.
In 67 years of documents there’s a strong possibility that something which could implicate the NCAA as liable might exist. Additionally, the deposition of Dr. Hainline might prove damaging for the NCAA as well. Offering settlement to Ploetz isn’t that much better of a situation. Doing so could open the door to many more similar lawsuits by former NCAA football players and their families.
As bad as that seemed for the NCAA, it was only the first act. What followed could be read as far worse for the NCAA’s status quo.
The fallout of O’Bannon: Jenkins v. NCAA
Most college sports fans have heard of O’Bannon v. NCAA, the famous lawsuit brought against the NCAA by former college basketball player Ed O’Bannon. What many fans don’t know is that the United States Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal of that suit left open one of the legal questions from the suit, and that issue has been hammered home by the lawsuit Jenkins v. NCAA.
On St. Patrick’s Day 2014, former NCAA football player Martin Jenkins and three other plaintiffs filed their suit against the NCAA. They argued that the NCAA by-laws which cap athlete compensation at full cost of attendance violate Article 1 of the Sherman Act, which is the federal legislation that defines and provides for the regulation of illegal monopolies/trusts.
The NCAA moved to dismiss the case, but on Thursday, March 29, four weeks after the NCAA saw defeat in its attempt to limit discovery in Ploetz, US 9th Circuit Court Judge Claudia Wilken denied the NCAA’s motion and set a date for the trial in Jenkins of Dec. 3. Wilken was the same judge who originally presided over O’Bannon.
If Jenkins’ lawyers are ultimately successful and the ruling holds up on any potential appeal(s), it would become illegal for the NCAA to sanction athletes or member institutions for compensation of any amount. Compensation levels would be left for the conferences and schools, and to some degree the athletes, to decide.
Next: 12 Biggest Cinderellas In March Madness History
Despite the fact that the men’s basketball tournament brought in revenue to the NCAA in the millions, the month started poorly and ended even worse for the NCAA. Both of these lawsuits could result in significant costs if not massive changes for the NCAA and so far, nothing has gone as the NCAA has hoped.