The antitrust lawsuit brought against NASCAR by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports now has lawyers on both sides.
Representing the teams is Jeffrey Kessler of Winston and Strawn, who famously secured name, image and likeness (NIL) rights for NCAA athletes and won equal pay rights for the United States Women’s National Soccer Team and he will argue his case opposed by Chris Yates of Latham & Watkins.
Read more: Why the two Cup Series teams are suing NASCAR
Yates represented the Ultimate Fighting Championship in a class action lawsuit brought forth by over 1,000 fighters who claimed the MMA promotion violated antitrust laws. That case reached a $375 million settlement.
He represents Fanatics, who Panini has sued over an allegation that it is engaging in anti-competitive conduct through its long-term exclusive licensing deals with top leagues and athletes, following in acquisition of competitor Toops and manufacturer GC Packaging, LLC while also ‘raiding’ key Panini employee groups.
Yates secured a victory for World Aquatics, which faced two antitrust lawsuits, one directly by the International Swimming League and another by swimmers Tom Shields and Katinka Hosszu.
That victory was won in trial, with a judge declaring that the ISL could have promoted events independently and that World Aquatics and its member federations did not have monopoly power to control competition.
“It is undisputed that top-tier swimmers are not bound by contract to swim only in FINA-sanctioned competitions. Indeed, the undisputed evidence is that ISL can and does sponsor top-tier swimming competitions without any affiliation with member federations.”
That court also found that World Aquatics made no attempts to stop swimmers from competing elsewhere.
Yates and Kessler have also most recently argued against each other in the Name Image and Likeness settlement that awarded NCAA athletes revenue sharing opportunities in addition to the ability to earn revenue from their respective personal brands.
There were three different cases that settlement resolved; House v. NCAA, Hubbard v. NCAA, and Carter v. NCAA.
Yates has also represented the US Soccer Federation in a class action lawsuit brought forth by players from the women’s soccer team, represented by Kessler, which resulted in an equal pay settlement, although, additional suits are pending.
Other relevant resume tidbits as provided by his firm’s website:
- Waddell & Reed in obtaining complete dismissal of a complaint alleging that W&R and boxing manager Al Haymon entered into an unlawful conspiracy, in a result The American Lawyer called an “unequivocal win”
- Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organizer of the Golden Globes, in litigation alleging that antitrust laws require the HFPA open its membership to “all objectively qualified applicants”; the court granted HFPA’s motion to dismiss with prejudice, earning Runner Up honors for Litigator of the Week from The American Lawyer