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Citing baseball's
longstanding antitrust exemption, U.S. District Judge Paul
Gardephe in Manhattan dismissed class action claims by Jordan
Wyckoff and Darwin Cox, former scouts for the Kansas City Royals
and Colorado Rockies, respectively.
According to the complaint, the teams colluded to reduce
competition by agreeing not to cold-call or otherwise recruit
each other's scouts without their employers' permission, and
misclassifying scouts as exempt from federal wage-and-hour laws.
Suing on behalf of an estimated 1,600 scouts, the plaintiffs
sought to avoid baseball's 94-year-old federal antitrust
exemption by saying that the protection encompassed only player
contracts and "league structure."
But the judge said the employment relationship between scouts
and teams was central to the "business of baseball," and thus
fell within the exemption.
"Because scouts' work has a direct and critical effect on the
selection of players who will participate in the games that the
public will watch, their role cannot be characterized as 'wholly
collateral' or 'incidental' to the business of professional
baseball," Gardephe wrote.
The judge also dismissed antitrust claims under New York's
Donnelly Act.
Gardephe said Wyckoff may pursue a wage-and-hour claim against
the Royals alone, but not against other teams because there was
no showing that they harmed him. Cox did not pursue a
wage-and-hour claim.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to
requests for comment. Lawyers for Major League Baseball, its
teams and Commissioner Rob Manfred did not immediately respond
to similar requests.
The case is Wyckoff v Office of the Commissioner of Baseball et
al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.
15-05186.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernard
Orr)
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