Billy Rogers Allegations

My client, Billy Rogers, is an excellent basketball player at State University but unfortunately he is not that brilliant in his studies. In order to upgrade his career in basketball and maintain his eligibility for the team, he needs to fulfil the criteria of selection according to which he must maintain passing grades, accumulate credits and enrol in a degree program. Somehow, he was able to meet the first two but failed to get acceptance in the University’s New School, a special degree program for students who propose independent-study projects .Then he tried to get admission in the summer school’s degree program but again was rejected. Finally as a last resort, he again tried to get a place in the independent-study projects to do his degree but found out that his rejection is due to the school’s officials decision but not the admissions committee, who declare him ineligible as they think that the work submitted by Rogers was not done by him but prepared by other students and also he has withdrawn from many courses in which he was failing so they pronounce him incompetent for the degree program.

On questioning Rogers denied theses allegations so as a punishment they have also declared him incompetent to take part in the athletic competition for his final season. This decision can completely destroy Billy Roger’s career who wants to continue playing basketball as a profession. He is at his best shape and fitness in terms of basketball requirements but his academic ineligibility can stop him from taking his talent forward and can be a threat for his bright promising future. He has already been evaluated by the professional scouts who have selected him to be a potential first round pick in the draft; provided he shows a good play as a senior in the final season. But his discontinuation from the team can prevent him to take advantage of this opportunity and can prove to be a great blow on his career ahead.

Admissions Committee View

Can the admissions committee, keeping in view all stated above, keep to their decision of accepting him in the degree program? As Rogers has denied the allegation of submitting work done by other students, can a thorough investigation be done into this matter before a decision is made? Can Rogers be allowed to take part in the competition of his final season, being an outstanding player, giving him the benefit of the doubt? Relating to this matter, the legal issue involved is basically the enforcement of Rogers ineligibility penalty without any proof or further investigation. Moreover, his admission is also refused on this basis although being accepted by the admissions committee which also makes him incapable to fulfil the requirement of becoming the team member.
If this obligation is not removed, I will file a lawsuit against this decision and will try to obtain a court order to stop its imposition as it is affecting my client’s career adversely.

Clients View

As it has been described in details all the facts and consequences of the rejection of Billy Rogers in the degree program it is concluded that in the best interest of my client, he should be given acceptance and all punishments should be void to enhance his career in the field he likes and is good at I suggest Rogers to file a lawsuit against this decision as my strategy is to highlight his skills in basketball and prove his incapability in doing so due to the school’s decision of refusing him the acceptance. According to my point of view , CBS will prevail on its law suit against the NFLPA and Players Inc. due to the fact that they are using the statistics of a player’s previous season or games to identify the better ones rather than using their names or images for commercial use. They are not using any personal images of the players to gain financial advantages; they are just using the previous records and name to update the statistics respectively. Although the defendants can argue on the implementation of the First Amendment to protect their rights of publicity but as the fantasy football is highly popular among the public so it is required to provide an up- to-date data regarding the players’ profile, injury reports and other facts irrespective of the prevalence of the license to use this information for further decisions. So the CBS will not have to obtain a new license to use these previous records in the interest of public domain. Moreover the footballers do not earn their living by the use of these records, they on the contrary upgrade their profiles and increase their earnings for the facts held in their records so using them in no way can affect their ability to make a living. Although there might be a debatable point on the fact that fantasy football is profitable as the figures show that it makes a gross amount of more than $ 1 billion a year for its participants and this differs it from the baseball case of CBC Distribution v. Advanced Media, but still the records were merely used to upgrade the data rather than advertise the players for earning income.

Moore vs. Bertuzzi case

In the Moore vs. Bertuzzi case, Moore sustained massive injuries which could be life-threatening as a result of Bertuzzi’s unacceptable violent behaviour which he did on purpose. As a result Moore not only had various severe facial injuries, loss of consciousness even loss of memory but he also stopped playing in the NHL since the incident. On these grounds, Moore has to prove the following to win his case: Moore suffered severe bodily harm by Bertuzzi which he did intentionally because of a previous retaliation, although he walked away from the confrontation to avoid such conflicts. The injuries sustained by Moore like spinal fractions, spine ligament injuries, a closed head injury, facial lacerations and abrasions, loss of consciousness, and loss of memory has damaged his ability to continue playing the game as before or most likely he will not be able to play hockey again. The actions of Bertuzzi were beyond the requirements of the game and were not in the best interests of hockey. The damages that Moore had to face were not only physical but he and his family also had to go through severe emotional stress. Bertuzzi can defend himself on the following grounds: He did not intend to perform any actions which were against the discipline or integrity of the game but on the contrary Moore sustained injuries due to an action performed necessary for the continuation of game effectively. He was performing a task for which he was employed and providing his services to the team efficiently, with fighting being an integral part of the game. Rough and violent play is part of professional hockey so when a player consents to play the game he automatically puts himself at risk to such assaults.

Potential legal claims on Craig

The potential legal claims on which Craig can file his lawsuit so to obtain the court order which can let him participate in the wrestling championship are as follows; Craig is an outstanding wrestler with a good track record in which he has never lost a match in the season; so preventing him from participating in the state championship can ruin his career not only in the extra-curricular sports but also his academic career will suffer a major drawback as he is intending to fund his further studies by the scholarship which he might get as an award by demonstrating his good talents in the championship. His parents are not so sound financially so he totally relies on that scholarship to fund his college education as he plans to continue his studies in nursing and physical therapy. Such violation was also done by the three girls volley ball players who also admitted their misconduct after 48 hours and that also by force but still they were treated as if their Good Conduct Code violations had been admitted within the required 48-hour period so their punishment was also minimal. On the other hand Craig was given a double punishment for the same sort of violation under similar circumstances which is totally unacceptable and unfair. Moreover there is no reliable evidence proving Craig’s presence in the party other than the information given by the police officer who caught him outside the party so he should be given benefit of doubt. Under such circumstances, Craig is most likely to succeed in his claims and will be able to get permission to take part in the championship. The defendants can however contradict these claims under following grounds; All students who represent the school in an activity are obliged to comply to the rules and regulations as stated in the Handbook which has been provided to them making it very clear the eligibility criteria and also the exclusion/suspension points.

Rules of the Good Conduct

According to the rules of the Good Conduct it has been specially specified that all students taking part in any extra curricular sports are strictly prohibited to attend all such parties where alcohol is consumed by minors; anyhow still in case of any violation students are expected to admit it within 48 hours which can reduce their punishment rather than suspension or permanent ineligibility if it is found out by any other means. In case of Craig, he has been given the punishment for a month’s suspension as he did not admit his mistake of attending the party himself within 48 hours and denied it continuously although information was provided by a police officer who tested him positive for alcohol. The other 3 female volley ballplayers were given comparatively less punishment as they admitted attending the party themselves although after the 48 hour deadline but still showed remorse. Our school Code of Conduct is equal for everyone and no favours can be given in any circumstance as it can lead to disorder in the regulation of behaviours especially for those who participate in sports as they represent the school and act as role models. In addition they agreed to act in accordance with the terms and conditions as set out by the board, administrators and coaches/sponsors of the individual activities.

Unlawful and unauthorised use of a sports star names

Unlawful and unauthorised use of a sports star name for any purpose of advertisement and commercial is against the sports copyright law and requires an image licensing agreement between the parties in which the athlete is liable to be paid a royalty or fee for his image, signature, voice, identity, personality, signature, initials even his nick name to be used for any promotional purposes. In case of Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the most important legal issue for which he can claim damages is that he officially converted his religion to Islam and also changed his name appropriately, but the commercial used his old name to relate their brand value to the value of a “champ” which gave a false image of his personality and contradicted with his current personality. It misrepresented his identity and caused damage to his image. Besides the exploitation of Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s image right, it also prevented the sport star to earn a lucrative sponsorship deal whereby an advertiser wishing to associate his or her product or goods with that of the star athlete has to pay. An athlete can earn a considerable amount of money by agreeing to endorse a product by his name or let his name be used for any sort of promotion, so it was an unlawful act on the behalf of GMC TV and was against the image rights protection law.This case will definitely go into the favour of Kareem Abdul Jabbar as the defence has already stopped the commercial realizing it to be a mistake and now Kareem Abdul Jabbar is claiming for compensation for those times when the commercial was aired without his consent and even without his knowledge. The defendants do not hold a very strong position in this case so they have already withdrawn the airing of the commercial but in order to defend themselves and to prevent the liability on them of any further compensation they can disagree with the athlete on exploiting or misrepresenting his image by notifying that the commercial just used his old nick name which he hasn’t used for the last 10 years and most importantly they did not impersonate his voice but merely associated the winning spirit of the athlete to their brand. Anyhow on objection by the athlete they immediately took action and stopped it. According to my legal expertise , I will not encourage John Jones to agree to such a provision in the contract by means of which the Bengals organization gets the authority of forfeiting a part or all of the player’s signing bonuses in case of any disloyalty or disrespect shown to the organization , the coach or the team mates publicly. This is a very vague inclusion in the contract with no clear definition or demarcated boundaries of behavioural issues so even if a player is not happy with the coaching of the team before a tournament or objects on the management he might be liable to be prosecuted and fined under this clause by retaining his signing bonuses. Moreover the signing bonus is the only guaranteed money that a player gets so signing such contracts can lower down his income considerably in case of any conflict, criticism or dispute. This inclusion in the contract can be negotiated by agreeing to “no-tolerance “ policy which can give freedom of speech and views to the player and on the other hand can also protect the organization’s esteem against all sort of exploitation by the player. Other unacceptable behaviours should be clearly written stating the exact prohibitions and consequences to avoid any misunderstandings.

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