National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Lasege

53 S.W.3d 77, 2001 Ky. LEXIS 118, 2001 WL 674154
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedJune 14, 2001
Docket2001-SC-0114-I
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 53 S.W.3d 77 (National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Lasege) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Lasege, 53 S.W.3d 77, 2001 Ky. LEXIS 118, 2001 WL 674154 (Ky. 2001).

Opinions

[80]*80OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR CR 65.09 RELIEF

KELLER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”)1 moves this Court for interlocutory relief under CR 65.09 and asks us to vacate the Jefferson Circuit Court’s temporary injunction which (1) declares Respondent Lasege eligible to participate in NCAA intercollegiate basketball and (2) prohibits the NCAA from imposing future sanctions against Lasege or Respondent University of Louisville (“U of L”) pursuant to its NCAA Bylaw 19.8 restitutionary powers. We find that the NCAA has demonstrated “extraordinary cause” justifying CR 65.09 relief and we vacate the temporary injunction in its entirety.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Lasege, a citizen of Nigeria, a country in West Africa, enrolled at the University of Louisville during the 1999-2000 academic year with the intention of playing for its intercollegiate men’s basketball team. In March 2000, U of L declared Lasege ineligible to play intercollegiate basketball because he had previously entered into professional basketball contracts and had received preferential benefits which compromised his amateur status. U of L asked the NCAA to reinstate Lasege’s eligibility because of La-sege’s ignorance of NCAA regulations and other mitigating factors. The NCAA’s Studenh-Athlete Reinstatement Staff (“Staff’) found that Lasege had violated its Bylaws relating to contracts and compensation,2 the use of agents,3 and preferential treatment, benefits, or services,4 and declined U of L’s rein[81]*81statement request “[biased on the case precedent and the subcommittee’s December 1999 amateurism guidelines involving contracts and professional teams. Specifically, the Staff focused on [La-sege’s] decisions to sign explicit contracts with a sports agent and a professional team.” The NCAA described the factual basis for its findings as follows:

Prior to enrollment, SA [Student Athlete] asserts he left his home in Nigeria to go to Russia in order to obtain a visa to come to the U.S. so that SA could go to school. SA was provided with an airline ticket ($800) to Russia from Nigeria by the Russian Sports Agency, New Sport. While in Russia, SA signed a contract with New Sport in Russia to represent SA regarding playing basketball for the professional club system in Moscow. As a result of the New Sport three-year contract, SA was to receive a salary of $9,000 a year with additional monetary incentives based on athletic performance. SA asserts he did not receive a salary but did receive living accommodations and meals for approximately 18 months valued at $1,170. SA was provided a driver, a cook, a visa to Russia ($70), clothing ($75) and a round-trip ticket from Moscow to Nigeria ($798). SA signed a second contract with a professional basketball team, which was to provide SA with a salary, furnished apartment, utilities but no telephone, two round-trip airline tickets to return to Nigeria and a car for personal needs if SA should obtain a Russian driver’s license. SA asserts he did not receive a salary from the second contract. SA competed with two junior teams in 13 contests. One of the teams was a junior team of the professional team SA signed the second contract with, and both junior teams were financially supported by professional teams. SA practiced with two professional teams but did not compete. SA was provided an airline ticket ($750) and visa ($50) to Canada from Moscow by an individual in Canada who knew of SA due to his athletics ability, which constituted a violation of 12.1.1.6. This individual provided SA with lodging and meals ($2,000) for approximately eight months. Individual also provided SA with automobile transportation to and lodging while at institution for an unofficial visit ($342.50), airline tickets, meals and lodging at another collegiate institution for an unofficial visit ($538) and a one-way airline ticket to institution for initial college enrollment ($101.50) for the 1999-00 academic year.

U of L appealed the Staffs decision to the NCAA’s Division I Subcommittee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. The Subcommittee, which consists of representatives from NCAA Division I member institutions, found that Lasege’s Bylaw violations exhibited a clear intent to professionalize and affirmed the Staffs decision denying reinstatement.

On November 27, 2000, Lasege filed a Motion and Complaint in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking a temporary injunction requiring the NCAA to reverse its decision as to U of L’s request and to immediately reinstate his eligibility to play basketball at U of L. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial court found that the complaint presented a substantial question as to whether the NCAA’s ruling was arbitrary and capricious. Specifically, the trial court: (1) suggested that the NCAA had ignored what it described as “overwhelming and mitigating circumstances,” including economic and cultural disadvantages, a complete ignorance of NCAA regulations, [82]*82and elements of coercion associated with execution of the contracts; (2) believed the NCAA’s determination to conflict with the NCAA’s own amateurism guidelines and past eligibility determinations regarding athletes who had engaged in similar violations; (3) expressed its doubts about whether the first contract signed by La-sege was legally enforceable as an agency contract both because of Lasege’s minority at the time he executed it and because the trial court disputed that the contract created an agency relationship; and (4) opined that a clear weight of evidence suggested Lasege committed these violations not in order to become a professional athlete, but only to obtain a visa which would allow him to become a student-athlete in the United States.

The trial court found that Lasege would suffer substantial collateral consequences from an erroneous and adverse eligibility determination, balanced the equities in favor of Lasege, and ordered “the NCAA and its members ... to immediately restore the intercollegiate eligibility of Mu-hammed Lasege so as to allow him to participate in all NCAA basketball contests.” The trial court also addressed U of L’s concern that the NCAA could impose sanctions under NCAA Bylaw 19.8 if the injunction was subsequently vacated. NCAA Bylaw 19.8 allows the NCAA to seek restitution from member institutions who permit student-athletes found ineligible by the NCAA to compete for their athletic teams pursuant to court orders which are later vacated.5 The trial court therefore “declare[d] that NCAA Bylaw 19.8 is invalid because it prevents parties from availing themselves of the protections of the courts” and ordered:

... that the University of Louisville shall abide by this injunction and shall not prohibit Muhammed Lasege from engaging in intercollegiate basketball;
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the NCAA and its members are hereby ordered to take no action to prevent or interfere with the University of Louisville’s ability to abide by this Order by attempting to enforce NCAA Bylaw 19.8.

After the trial court entered the temporary injunction, Lasege played basketball for U of L during the 2000-2001 season.

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Bluebook (online)
53 S.W.3d 77, 2001 Ky. LEXIS 118, 2001 WL 674154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-collegiate-athletic-assn-v-lasege-ky-2001.