MHSAA plans to appeal

MHSAA plans to appeal – mlive.com

The Michigan High School Athletic Association says it plans to appeal U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen’s ruling which awarded a $7.4 million court judgment for the plantiff’s legal fees in the gender equity lawsuit.

Just keeping up with developments in the Michigan case. It’s an interesting question when you consider that the judgment against the state’s athletic association is more than the value of the organization. Stay tuned….

MHSAA ordered to pay more than it’s worth

Federal judge: Michigan prep sports group to pay $7.4 million

Enslen ordered the MHSAA to pay $4.4 million in attorneys’ fees, the bulk to Kristen Galles, who runs a one-attorney, public-interest law firm in Alexandria, Va., and who has worked on the case 12 years for free. He also awarded interest on the judgment from the date the suit was filed in June 1998, swelling the total payout to $7.4 million.

The interest will pile up at $1,000 a day, seven days a week, until payment is made.

The MHSAA has a net worth of nearly $6 million, roughly half in investments and half in real estate, according to its most recent tax return, for the year ending July 2006.

Ouch. I agree that (my home state) Michigan’s stubborn insistence on goofy non-typical seasons has hurt young women student-athletes, but I’m not sure how this makes the situation better for them. From the sound of the article, the association had an opportunity to settle by changing its season bylaws, but refused. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here.

I guess our (Illinois association) IHSA isn’t actually as bad as it could be.