Jury Awards $28.1 Million to Retired NFL Players
On November 10, 2008, a jury awarded a $28.1 million verdict ($7.1 million in damages and $21 million in punitive damages) against the National Football League Players Association and Players Inc. in a class action suit brought by retired NFL players.
In the suit, retired football players (including the named-plaintiffs Bernard Paul Parrish, Herbert Anthony Adderley and Walter Roberts, III) alleged various claims against the NFLPA in connection with "Group Licensing Agreements" or "Group Licensing Authorizations" ("GLAs"). Pursuant to these GLAs, the NFLPA obtained the (allegedly) non-exclusive right to market retired players' names, numbers, likenesses, voices, facsimile signatures, photographs, and biographical information with respect to licensed products such as trading cards, video games, and personal appearances and events. The money generated by such licensing was to be "divided between the player and an escrow account for all eligible NFLPA members who have signed a group licensing authorization form."
But the plaintiffs alleged that the NFLPA failed to comply with this revenue-sharing obligation and thereby violated the GLAs as well as fiduciary obligations owed to the retired football players. You can read a copy of the (heavily-redacted) Third Amended Complaint, without exhibits, here.
The jury found for the retired football players on both claims but only awarded damages ($7.1 million) on the breach of fiduciary claim plus the $21 million in punitive damages.
The case cite is Adderley, et al. v. National Football League Players Association, et al., No. C 07-00943 WHA (N.D. Cal.).
