Although she declined to certify a subclass of athletes seeking to recover monetary damages, U.S. District Chief Judge Claudia Wilken will let plaintiffs try to upend NCAA policies that bar them from striking group deals to license their names and likenesses for use in video games and television broadcasts. In the order certifying the injunctive relief class, released Friday, she said it would be too hard for plaintiffs to determine who had actually been harmed for a damages class.
Represented by Munger, Tolles & Olson and Schiff Hardin, the NCAA insisted that the injunctive relief class must also be rejected. The bid for an injunction appeared to have been tacked on to the demand for damages, which was the plaintiffs’ main aim, the NCAA argued. But Wilken saw value in the proposed injunction, too.
