(Image via Getty)
If you are in need of some NBA drama while the league remains suspended due to coronavirus, then I suggest following along with the pending litigation surrounding Zion Williamson. The former Duke superstar who was in the middle of his NBA rookie campaign has been fighting a couple of related cases in Florida and North Carolina, each revolving around marketing agents who previously, for a short time, represented his talents off the basketball court.
The gist of the litigation is that Williamson’s former agents, who had their representation contract terminated, have demanded at least $100 million based on the deals they negotiated on Williamson’s behalf prior to his securing new agents. They filed an action for damages in state court in Miami-Dade County, while Williamson is mainly seeking declaratory relief from a federal court in North Carolina, with a request that the court finds the underlying representation agreement with his former agents to be null and void.
The heat on Williamson’s former agents was turned up a bit on May 20, when Williamson filed a motion for partial judgment on the pleadings in the case pending in North Carolina. That motion basically asks the court to declare an early end to the litigation based on what Williamson alleges to be important technical violations of North Carolina statutory law.
Williamson wants the court to pay close attention to the text of North Carolina’s Uniform Athlete Agents Act. He claims that his prior agents violated two sections of that act.
First, Williamson notes that the Agents Act prohibits an individual from acting as an athlete agent in North Carolina without holding a certificate of registration. The Agents Act states that an agency contract resulting from conduct in violation of the section containing the requirement renders the contract void and that any consideration received by an agent under such a contract would need to be returned to the athlete. Williamson’s filing indicates that his prior agents have never held certificates as registered athlete agents in North Carolina.
Second, Williamson points to the portion of the Agents Act that says an agency contract must contain, in close proximity to the signature of the college athlete, a conspicuous notice in boldface type in capital letters, and it details the specific language that must be used. Again, the Agents Act expressly states that an agency contract that does not contain the warning is voidable by the athlete and that the athlete is then relieved of being required to pay any consideration under the contract. Williamson, in his filing, highlights that the notice provision was not added to the contract that he had signed with his prior agents.
It seems that the only argument Williamson’s former agents have against a ruling in favor of Williamson’s motion is to claim that Williamson was not technically a “student-athlete,” as defined by the Agents Act, when he signed the agency contract. The Agents Act defines “student-athlete” as “an individual who engages in, is eligible to engage in, or may
be eligible in the future to engage in any intercollegiate sport.”
However, Williamson addresses that expected argument in his motion and says that he was still eligible to engage in intercollegiate basketball when he entered into the agency contract and that he had not yet formally declared for the NBA Draft.
If the court is persuaded by Williamson’s argument, then it should cause a conclusion to all relevant pending litigation surrounding the parties. There happens to be another individual who has sued Williamson’s former agents for a commission he believes he is due based on his assistance in initially recruiting Williamson as a client. However, if Williamson’s former agents are not owed anything from Williamson, then there will be nothing for any third parties to demand from Williamson’s former agents, so that case should also be concluded if the North Carolina federal court rules in Williamson’s favor.
Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at heitner@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.