On October 9, 2024, Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the complaint in Choh, et al. v. Brown University, et al., including for Skadden client Columbia University. The complaint alleged that various Ivy League schools violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act by agreeing to an Ivy League rule that none of the schools would award athletic scholarships and that all financial aid to student athletes and nonathletes alike would be based solely on financial need. The court held that (i) the per se rule of illegality does not apply to agreements in league sports and (ii) the plaintiffs had failed to plead an antitrust violation under the rule of reason. The court did not dismiss with leave to replead because “[t]he deficiencies in the Complaint that are the basis for granting the motion to dismiss are substantive in nature, and nothing in the plaintiffs’ papers suggests that they could amend the Complaint to overcome these substantive deficiencies.” Karen Lent, Amy Van Gelder and John Kocoras led the Skadden team.
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