Gustafson Gluek Attorneys Honored in High Profile Discrimination Case

Gustafson Gluek congratulates our team of attorneys, led by Dennis Stewart and Michelle Looby, on being recognized as Attorneys of the Year by Minnesota Lawyers for their representation of the Plaintiff in O.M., by and through her parent and guardian, K.C. Moultrie v. National Women’s Soccer League LLC. 

This team at Gustafson Gluek, along with Law Offices of Leonard B. Simon and Miller Nash LLP, successfully brought this case on behalf of 15-year-old soccer prodigy Olivia Moultrie against the National Women’s Soccer League challenging the League’s minimum age rule.  From the initial development of the legal theories, through multiple motions, and ultimately resolution, the team worked under substantial time pressure for Ms. Moultrie’s right to play professional soccer in the United States.

Ms. Moultrie alleged that the League’s Rule was a group boycott in violation of the Sherman Act, arguing that the 10 teams that make up the NWSL agreed amongst themselves, and with the League, not to contract with players under the age of 18, without regard to their talents or abilities. She pointed to the absence of any age restrictions for male players to demonstrate that the public interest in open competition and equal treatment of women favored a TRO.

The TRO was granted after an evidentiary hearing. Next, the legal team engaged in expedited discovery, motion practice, and hearings to support the even the more burdensome preliminary injunction standard, ultimately obtaining an injunction blocking the application of the Rule allowing Ms. Moultrie to sign with Portland on June 30, 2021. 

Thanks to this legal team’s efforts and hard work, a mere two months after filing the complaint Ms. Moultrie was on the field for her first professional game as the youngest player ever to play in the League on July 3, 2021.

We at Gustafson Gluek are proud of the work the team put into this important case and congratulate them on this well deserved award.