K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup (March 12, 2024)

Sports:

• The Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted to unionize Tuesday in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes and another blow to the NCAA’s deteriorating amateur business model. Dartmouth men’s basketball team votes to unionize, though steps remain before forming labor union – The Associated Press
• Florida and the Seminole Tribe of Florida will be raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from online sports betting this decade, thanks to a compact between the tribe and Gov. Ron DeSantis that gave the tribe exclusive rights to run sports wagers as well as casino gambling on its reservations. Legal battle underway in Florida over sports betting as Supreme Court petition challenges tribal agreement – Fox News
• On Thursday, Philadelphia City Council passed a law introduced by Councilmember-at-Large Isaiah Thomas. The city will partner with Temple University School of Law to help high school and college athletes navigate and monetize NIL deals, with free legal and financial advice. Philly City Council passes law to help student athletes navigate financial deals – WHYY
• Three men who were classified as volunteers at a Florida for-profit municipal golf course urged the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday to reverse a lower court decision dismissing their lawsuit alleging they were denied fair wages after only being compensated with discounted fees on rounds of golf, saying they should get the chance to prove they were employees. 11th Circ. Told Workers Unfairly Paid With Reduced Golf Rates – Law360
• A former college track and field coach was sentenced Wednesday to five years behind bars for setting up sham social media and email accounts in an attempt to trick women, including some he coached, into sending him nude or semi-nude photos of themselves. Former Northeastern track coach sentenced to five years for duping female athletes into sending nude photos – Boston.com
• The University of Oregon has told a federal court that it lacks “any control” or direction over NIL collectives, including the Oregon-focused Division Street backed by Nike founder Phil Knight. In an 89-page answer filed Monday night, the university laid out its defenses against a class-action sex discrimination lawsuit filed late last year by a group of 32 current and former Ducks women beach volleyball players and rowers. Oregon Denies ‘Any Control’ Over NIL Collective in Title IX Defense – Sportico
• A New Jersey appellate panel on Friday denied a local school board’s emergency request to halt a high school championship basketball on Saturday, holding that the state’s interscholastic athletic association’s regulations do not allow for the appeal of a game official’s call. School Can’t Halt Basketball Championship Over Disputed Call – Law360

Entertainment:

MUSIC

• The European Union’s antitrust authority fined Apple €1.8 billion ($1.95 billion) for abusing its dominant position in the market for music streaming apps by preventing developers from letting iPhone users know about cheaper subscriptions. Apple Fined Nearly $2 Billion by EU Over Music-Streaming Apps Antitrust Case – WSJ
• A FL federal judge has handed a win to the entity that owns the intellectual property of the musical group Earth, Wind & Fire over a concert producer and a promoter it says ripped off the band’s trademarks, banning them from using those marks again. Earth, Wind and Fire Win Trademark Suit Against Tribute Act (rollingstone.com)
• The Manhattan DA’s Office cited newly produced evidence to drop criminal charges midway through a trial over the sale of the Eagles’ 1976 album Hotel California, with a judge saying the prosecution had been “manipulated” by band frontman Don Henley. Eagles ‘Hotel California’ lyrics case dropped over new evidence – The Washington Post
• CA appellate justices upheld Lizzo, Ellie Goulding and William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC’s win against an organizer’s breach suit over COVID-19 cancellations, finding the artists could keep their secured deposits under the contracts’ force majeure provision as they showed they were ready to perform but for the force majeure event. Lizzo, WME’s Win Upheld In Calif. COVID Force Majeure Fight – Law360

FILM & TELEVISION

• A NM state jury found Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal on-set shooting of a cinematographer, months before actor-producer Alec Baldwin is set to be tried on similar charges. ‘Rust’ Armorer Convicted of Manslaughter in Alec Baldwin Shooting – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
• Movie producer Jason Cloth and a Chicago-area investment brokerage are facing an $80 million proposed class action that was recently leveled in IL state court by an investor who says the filmmaker has mishandled money he’s pulled in for several projects and raised new funds to pay older investors. Well-known film producer Jason Cloth, behind ‘Joker,’ ‘Babylon,’ accused of ripping off wealthy North Shore residents – ABC7 Chicago
• The family of a former movie poster artist and a PA attorney-turned-art collector have settled a dispute over the original art for a Blade Runner poster, with the parties agreeing to sell the art and split the proceeds. Estate, Collector Settle Spat Over ‘Blade Runner’ Poster Art – Law360
• A KY man who accused Netflix of wrongfully using his image in a true-crime documentary titled The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker has asked a TX federal judge to keep the real hatchet-wielding hitchhiker out of his lawsuit, saying the convicted murderer has nothing to do with his litigation against the streaming giant. ‘Hatchet Wielding’ Killer Has No Part In Netflix Suit, Court Told – Law360
• A CA federal judge ordered Disney-owned 20th Television to go to trial on actor Rockmond Dunbar’s claim of failing to provide religious accommodations when he sought COVID-19 vaccine exemptions, citing “sparse record evidence of any meaningful discussion of potential accommodations” and triable issues of whether the actor’s religious beliefs were sincerely held. Rockmond Dunbar Sues Disney For $1 Million Over ‘9-1-1’ Vaccine Mandate (deadline.com)