A recent Law 360 story by Dave Simpson, “NCAA Owes Student-Athletes’ Attys $33M in Fees and Costs,” reports that a California magistrate judge ordered the NCAA to pay $31.8 million to cover the attorneys who scored an injunction for student-athletes barring the NCAA from restricting their education-related compensation, but declined to provide the attorneys with the full $45 million they requested.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins applied minor reductions to the student-athletes’ baseline bid for fees and costs and declined to apply their ask for another $15 million based on a 1.5 multiplier, requested in light of "the exceptional nature of the outcome."

“Representation was of excellent quality on both sides of this litigation, and counsel for both sides expertly handled this exceedingly complex case,” Judge Cousins said.  “But the court finds that this quality and complexity are already reflected in plaintiffs’ counsels’ hourly rates and the number of hours billed.”

Further, he said, while the students’ victory was “historic,” they didn’t get everything they asked for.  “That both parties appealed the final judgment in the case indicates that neither wholly succeeded on their claims,” the magistrate judge said.  Finally, he said, the students’ attorneys have already recovered fees related to a damages portion of the case as a part of a settlement agreement.  In addition to the fees, the magistrate judge awarded the students’ attorneys nearly $1.4 million in costs.

Nearly $26 million of the fees will go to Winston & Strawn LLP, with about $3 million apiece heading to Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP and Pearson Simon & Warshaw LLP, while Pritzker Levine LLP will rake in $163,000.

The bid for fees and costs follows a landmark 10-day bench trial that kicked off in Oakland in September 2018 over allegations by Division I college football and basketball players that the NCAA's rules illegally restrict what they can receive to play.  The rules had limited athlete benefits to cost-of-attendance scholarships; Student Assistance Funds, which cover certain school-related expenses; some need-based grants, like Pell Grants; and bowl participation awards, which are typically capped around $450.

During the trial, sports economists, former athletes, university officials and NCAA administrators took turns testifying on the impacts of the NCAA's compensation rules.  Three former athletes, who didn't play professionally after college, recalled how they struggled as students to pay for meals, clothes and trips home, while they spent between 40 and 60 hours a week on their sports, which left little time for academics.