Pretrial Discovery victory for Ed O'Bannon in lawsuit v. NCAA

On Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathaniel M. Cousins granted Ed O'Bannon's motion to review NCAA and NCAA member revenue info from TV, radio, Internet, sponsorships, licensing & ads. This is a significant pretrial victory for O'Bannon and his legal team, and also illustrates why the NFL apparently wants to reach a settlement with Jonathan Vilma before there's any pretrial discovery in Vilma v. Goodell: once a suit isn't dismissed and it goes to discovery, defendants may have to reveal information they are concerned about sharing.

The NCAA had argued the info was confidential and would have a "chilling effect" on member schools. Judge Cummings disagreed, as the info is clearly relevant to O'Bannon's class action lawsuit, which centers on the NCAA's use of former student-athletes' likeness after they leave college.

For more on Judge Cousin's ruling, see this Law 360 story and Hollywood Reporter story.