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Friday, July 29, 2022

Getting Out from Under

UCLA, Under Armour drop dueling litigation over $280 million sportswear deal

Orange County Register | City News Service | 7-28-22

UCLA and Under Armour Inc. have dropped dueling litigation that began when the university sued the company alleging that the firm wrongfully reneged on its $280 million sports apparel deal with the school in 2020 and cited the pandemic. A lawyer for the UC Regents, acting on behalf of UCLA, filed court papers with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford III asking that all litigation be dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state whether a settlement was reached, but lawyers in the case told the judge during a June 2 hearing that settlement talks were in progress. The UC Regents sued Baltimore-based Under Armour in September 2020, alleging that Under Armour told UCLA it was invoking a clause in the agreement due to the coronavirus pandemic to terminate the contract...

The judge, in denying a motion by Under Armour to dismiss the case last August, concluded that the company did not show that its cancellation of the contract was specifically allowed under the clause cited...

In its countersuit filed last Sept. 15, Under Armour alleged UCLA breached the record-breaking contract by failing to provide marketing benefits while teams were unable to perform due to the suspension of college sports in 2020 due to the pandemic. Under Armour also alleged UCLA violated a separate agreement by using social justice patches to cover up the brand’s logo on uniforms provided to the university after the original sponsorship deal was terminated...

UCLA announced a new deal with Nike’s Jordan brand in December 2020.

Full story at https://www.ocregister.com/2022/07/28/ucla-under-armour-drop-dueling-litigation-over-280-million-sportswear-deal/ and UCOP Daily News Clips.

UPDATE: The LA Times reports that the settlement referred to above involves a payment of over $61 million to UCLA:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2022-07-29/ucla-settle-200-million-lawsuit-under-armour-breach-of-contract.

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