One benefit of going to law school is that you have the opportunity to take drafting classes, where you will learn tricks about terms to place in various types of contracts. For instance, this past summer I took a class titled, Analysis and Drafting of Intellectual Property. Our major project was a license agreement, with paragraph titles including, Payment of Royalties, Right of Appearance and Publicity, and Non-Endorsement of Competitors’ Products, all of which would normally be in any endorsement deal you strike for an athlete client.
Very rarely is a non-lawyer or law student exposed to a contract including these types of paragraphs, but today is your lucky day. Dream Inc., a sports memorabilia company, terminated Brian Urlacher‘s 4-year, $1.2 million contract just days after he suffered a season-ending wrist injury. Urlacher’s attorneys filed suit against Dream Inc. last Thursday, hoping to get at least $600,000 in damages for Dream Inc. breaching the contract.
After a bit of scouring the web, I was able to find the actual complaint that Urlacher’s attorneys have filed, which may be read below.
The complaint is only 12 pages long, a breeze for any law student who is used to assignments six times that size. Our main concern is looking at the terms of the contract he signed. Unfortunately, I cannot get my hands on Exhibit A, which is the actual contract, but the complaint does tell a good portion of what is embodied in the personal appearances and authentic autographs agreement Urlacher signed. Additionally, Darren Rovell provides a nice breakdown.
One reply on “Terminate Urlacher? You Must Be Dreaming”
Good stuff, D. I might bring this in to my law class as a real example of what our current topic is. Thanks