National Hockey League, Canadian hockey clubs defeat US class action

Reuters

27-05-2025

May 27 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League and Canada's top junior league clubs have defeated a lawsuit in U.S. court that claimed they conspired to restrain employment opportunities and compensation for players aged 16 to 20.
U.S. District Judge Tana Lin in Seattle ruled, opens new tab on Friday that a labor union and players who filed the proposed class action had not shown that their claims had enough ties to the United States to allow the antitrust case to move forward.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled. The order did not address the merits of the claims.
In the lawsuit, two former junior league players alleged the NHL and Canadian hockey clubs violated U.S. antitrust law by agreeing not to compete among each other for prospective and current junior hockey players.
The NHL and Canadian defendants had denied any wrongdoing.
Jeffrey Shinder, an attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement said they disagreed with the judge's ruling. "We intend to keep fighting to protect these boys and we are considering the full range of available responses," Shinder said.
Lawyers for NHL and CHL did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit alleged the Canadian leagues illegally divided up exclusive territories across North America, controlling the recruitment and drafting of young hockey players.
Junior hockey leagues are seen as a path to professional play in the NHL, which features teams in the United States and Canada.
The NHL in seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit said in a court filing, opens new tab that the 'overwhelming majority' of the complaint did not focus on the league, but instead challenged alleged anticompetitive conduct in Canada.
The CHL told Lin, opens new tab that the lawsuit belonged in Canada, and that courts there had already rejected a competition-related challenge to the business practices of the league and its member clubs.
Lin found that most of the conduct at issue in the lawsuit took place in Canada.
Still, Lin in her ruling said the allegations 'give the court pause' and that 'the United States has an interest in the treatment of major junior hockey players recruited from and playing in the United States.'
The case is World Association of Ice Hockey Players Unions USA et al v. National Hockey League et al, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, No. 2:24-CV-2135-TL.
For plaintiffs: Jeffrey Shinder of Shinder Cantor Lerner; Judith Zahid of Zelle; Michael Rubin of Altshuler Berzon; Gregory Asciolla of DiCello Levitt; Steve Shadowen of Hilliard Shadowen; and Paul Slater of Sperling Kenny Nachwalter
For NHL: Andrew Gordon and Martha Goodman of Paul Weiss; William Isaacson
For CHL: Derek Ludwin and Benjamin Block of Covington, and Vanessa Soriano Power of Stoel Rives
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