Haw v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n
| Docket Number | 866 |
| Decision Date | 01 February 2024 |
| Citation | 260 Md. App. 310,309 A.3d 64 |
| Parties | Brandon HAW v. NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION |
| Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Case No. 24-C-21-005753, Christopher L. Panos, Judge.
Argued by Bryan Reines (John J. Connolly and Gregg L. Bernstein, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP, Baltimore, MD & David D. Langfitt, Langfitt PLLC, Gladwyne, PA, on brief), for Appellant.
Argued by Brian J. Paul, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Indianapolis, IN (James A. Frederick, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Washington, DC, on brief), for Appellee.
Argued before: Arthur, Reed, Albright, JJ.
This appeal addresses the circumstances in which a Maryland trial court may exercise personal jurisdiction over the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), an unincorporated association of colleges and universities that issues and enforces rules governing intercollegiate athletics throughout the United States.
The plaintiff is a Maryland résident who suffers from permanent neurodegenerative brain disease allegedly resulting from repeated head trauma that he sustained while playing college football. The plaintiff alleges that the NCAA caused his condition by failing to inform players of the dangers of brain disease caused by playing college football and failing to protect players from those dangers. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City concluded that it could not exercise personal jurisdiction over the NCAA in this action.
The plaintiff has appealed from the order dismissing the action for lack of personal jurisdiction. For the reasons explained in this opinion, the judgment will be, reversed. Although we reject some of the grounds for personal jurisdiction proposed by the plaintiff, we conclude, that the NCAA is subject to specific jurisdiction in Maryland with respect to the claims in this action. The NCAA will not be denied due process of law if it is required to defend these claims for injuries allegedly caused by the NCAA’s rules governing college football in the courts of one of the states targeted by those rules.
More than a century ago, as college football was first gaining popularity in the United States, "[s]erious injuries were common, and it was not unheard of for players to be killed during games." O’Bannon v. Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 802 F.3d 1049, 1053 (9th Cir. 2015). In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt "invitet[d] leaders of collegiate football … to the White House for a discussion on reforming or abolishing the game during a season that produced 18 deaths and 149 serious injuries attributed to the sport." NCAA, Timeline – 1900s, http://ncaa.org/sports/2021/6/14/timeline-1900s.aspx (archived at https://perma.cc/3HTK-EK6Z). By the next year, "the presidents of 62 colleges and universities founded the Intercollegiate Athletic Association to create uniform rules for college football." O’Bannon v. National Collegiate Athletic Ass’n, 802 F.3d at 1053. Since 1910, that association has been known as, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Id.
The NCAA is a non-profit, unincorporated association that currently maintains its headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. The NCAA describes itself as "a voluntary, self-governing organization of four-year colleges, universities and conferences committed to the well-being arid development of student-athletes, to sound academic standards and the academic success of student-athletes, and to diversity, equity and inclusion." 2022-23 NCAA Division I Manual, Constitution, preamble.1 "The basic purpose of the Association is to support and promote healthy and safe intercollegiate athletics … as an integral part of the education program and the student-athlete as an integral part of the student body." Id.
"Over the decades, the NCAA has become a sprawling enterprise." Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, 594 U.S. 69, 79, 141 S. Ct. 2141, 2150, 210 L.Ed.2d 314 (2021). Currently, about 1,100 colleges and universities are members of the NCAA. These member institutions include schools from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and even Canada. Each year, nearly half a million student-athletes compete in NCAA-sanctioned sports across the country. Millions of people watch NCAA competitions in person or on television.
The NCAA organizes its member schools into three divisions, of which Division I has the largest and most competitive athletic programs. "Division I teams are often the most popular" among viewers and "attract the most money and the most talented athletes." Nat’l Collegiate Athletic Ass’n v. Alston, 594 U.S. at 79, 141 S. Ct. at 2150. The NCAA charges and collects annual dues from each of its members and distributes revenue to members in Division I and Division II. The NCAA earns revenue from contracts for the licensing of NCAA-branded content, goods, and; merchandise; contracts for the right to broadcast NCAA championship games; and ticket sales for NCAA championship games. In 2021, the NCAA earned revenue of $1.155 billion.
NCAA members have adopted a constitution governing the structure and principles of the Association. One of the stated "Principles" is "Student-Athlete Well-Being." The NCAA Constitution states: "Intercollegiate athletics programs shall be conducted by the Association, divisions, conferences and member institutions in a manner designed to protect, support and enhance the physical and mental health and safety of student-athletes." 2022-23 NCAA Division I Manual, Constitution, Art. 1(D). Another of the NCAA’s "Principles" is "Institutional Control." Under this principle: "It is the responsibility of each member institution to monitor and control its athletics program and to provide education and training to ensure compliance with the rules established by the Association, its division and conference." Id., Art. 1(E).
Through a multi-tiered structure, the NCAA, its divisions, and its conferences issue rules and regulations governing athletic competitions among NCAA member schools. The NCAA has established rules committees for each sport to "establish and maintain rules of play in it’s sport consistent with the sound traditions of the sport and of such character as to ensure good sportsmanship and safe participation by competitors." 2022-23 NCAA Division I Manual, Operating Bylaws, § 21.6.1.3. Among other matters, the NCAA’s rules address the eligibility of student-athletes, recruitment of student-athletes by member institutions, and scholarships and other financial aid that member institutions may provide to student-athletes. The NCAA enforces its rules through an "Infractions Program," which authorizes penalties or sanctions against member institutions for violations of NCAA rules.
In addition to other matters addressed by the NCAA, the NCAA "develop[s] and promulgate[s] guidance, rules and policies based on consensus of the medical, scientific, sports medicine and sport governing communities, as appropriate, for student-athlete physical and mental health, safety and performance." 2022-23 NCAA Division I Manual, Constitution, Art. 2(A)(2)(b). The NCAA Constitution states that member institutions must "[e]stablish an administrative structure that provides independent medical care for student-athletes, affirms the autonomous authority of primary athletics health care providers, and implements NCAA guidance, rules and policies based on consensus of the medical, scientific, sports medicine, and sport governing communities." Id., Art. 2(D)(1)(d). It further provides: "The physicians and health care staff at each member institution have the ultimate decision-making authority over the health and welfare of student-athletes." Id.
Brandon Haw was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland. He attended Fairmont Heights High School in Capitol Heights, graduating in 1999. During high school, he distinguished himself as a talented football player, playing several positions, including defensive back and kick return specialist.
Beginning in the spring of 1998, when he was 17 years old, several NCAA Division I colleges attempted to recruit Mr. Haw to play college football. Over the next year, these colleges directed hundreds of communications by phone, letter, or email to Mr. Haw and to his father. Recruiters from at least two of these colleges personally attended his high school sporting events in Maryland. At one such event, he and his father spoke with the chief recruiter for Rutgers University. Mr. Haw and his father lived in Maryland throughout this recruitment process.
In December 1998, the head football coach of Rutgers University mailed a letter to Mr. Haw’s home address, offer- ing him "a full NCAA Grant-In-Aid scholarship"2 upon his completion of "academic criteria set by the NCAA and Rutgers[.]" At the same time, a Rutgers recruiting coordinator sent a letter to his parents, explaining certain terms of thè scholarship offer. Mr. Haw formally accepted this scholarship offer at his high school on national signing day in February 1999.
From 1999 through 2003, Mr. Haw played football at Rutgers University as a cornerback and kick return specialist. Throughout his last three seasons, he played as a starter for the Rutgers defense. During one year in which he could not play in games because of an injury, he continued to practice with the team.
While attending college at Rutgers, Mr. Haw lived in New Jersey, but maintained his permanent residence in Maryland. After college, he played professional football for a few years before returning to Maryland. He has resided in Baltimore City since 2007.
In the years after his football career ended, Mr. Haw began to exhibit symptoms of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma.
On December 21, 2021, Mr. Haw...
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