Minnesota Lawyer
That’s why everything about an antitrust case involving a teen-age soccer phenom who wanted to play professionally was a refreshing change of pace for Looby and her colleagues at Gustafson Gluek PLLC.
Working with legal counsel from two out-of-state law firms, Looby and her Gustafson Gluek colleagues, Mickey Stevens and Dennis Stewart, helped clear the way for Olivia Moultrie, a 15-year-old athletic prodigy, to sign a contract with the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). (Stewart works out of the firm’s San Diego office and Stevens has moved to another Twin Cities firm.)
The lawsuit filed in May 2021 challenged the NWSL’s rule against signing players under age 18. The suit alleged that the rule violated antitrust law and hindered Moultrie’s career development — an issue she would not have had if she were a male soccer player in the U.S. where no such age rule exists. With the support of declarations from members of the U.S. Women’s National Team and others attesting to her talent, there was no question that Moultrie, who had signed a sponsorship deal with Nike at age 13, was qualified to play.
A federal judge in Portland sided with Moultrie and granted a preliminary injunction that allowed her to sign with the Thorns. In July of that year, within just two months of filing the case, Moultrie and the NWSL reached a settlement and Moultrie and the Thorns went on to win the NWSL championship.
“It was a great experience,” Looby said. “A lot of antitrust cases are large class-actions dealing with price fixing or illegal monopolies. Those cases, while important and affecting a large number of people, obviously aren’t as personal as a case like this, where you had a young woman with such skill and drive who just wanted to play soccer at the level she deserved.”
Read more about Minnesota Lawyer’s superb class of Attorneys of the Year for 2022 here.
