Constantine|Cannon Files Historic Antitrust Litigation Targeting Exploitation of Major Junior Hockey Players

Constantine|Cannon LLP, along with five other leading antitrust and labor law firms, filed a landmark antitrust case in New York federal court today, aimed at exposing what plaintiffs allege to be egregiously anticompetitive collusion that targets teenage players across North America.

The class action lawsuit, which names as defendants the National Hockey League, the Canadian Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, and each of those leagues’ member clubs, challenges the alleged systematic exploitation of teens pursuing their dreams of playing in the NHL.

In this historic litigation, plaintiffs allege that defendants conspired to: 1) restrain competition for players, rendering them nothing more than the property of the major junior teams that draft them; and 2) compensate those players at artificially suppressed, non-competitive levels. The case was filed by the World Association of Icehockey Players Unions North America Division, as well as two former major junior hockey players, who will seek to represent a class of similarly situated players. For more information, please visit www.HockeyAntitrustLitigation.com.  Plaintiffs press release can be accessed at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-lawsuit-nhl-and-major-junior-hockey-leagues-hit-with-antitrust-class-action-alleging-anticompetitive-collusion-302061976.html?tc=eml_cleartime.

About Constantine|Cannon LLP

Constantine|Cannon, with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, has deep expertise in antitrust and complex commercial litigation, whistleblower representation, government relations, securities, e-discovery, and other practice areas.

The firm’s antitrust practice is among the largest and most well recognized in the nation. Constantine|Cannon’s experience spans multiple industries, including healthcare, banking, electronic payments, insurance, high tech, telecommunications, the Internet, and government contracting. To learn more about the firm generally, click here.

Constantine|Cannon’s whistleblower practice represents whistleblowers under the False Claims Act; the whistleblower programs of the IRS, SEC (Dodd-Frank Act), CFTC, and DOT; and the various federal and state laws that encourage industry insiders to report evidence of fraud or misconduct. To learn more about Constantine|Cannon’s whistleblower practice, click here.