The NBA logo on the floor before the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Golden State Warriors at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

(Reuters) - The National Basketball Association and the league's players union have asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the dismissal of a lawyer's claim that the two organizations unlawfully conspired to deny his application to become a certified player agent.

In court filings on Monday, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association said the aspiring agent, Rosel Hurley III, had failed to show any of the elements necessary to prove a violation of federal antitrust law. The attorneys also argued certain labor exemptions apply in the dispute, since the players union is the exclusive bargaining representative under federal law for professional basketball players.

The NBA's lawyers, including Michael Shuster of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg and Lynn Larsen of Taft Stettinius & Hollister, told the Cincinnati-based U.S. appeals court that Hurley's complaint "does not allege that anyone at the NBA had any role at all in the Players Association's decision" not to allow him to take an online examination.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent in December dismissed Hurley's complaint, finding labor-related exemptions immunized the players union from federal antitrust law.

Lawyers for the NBA and for the players union, represented by a team from Squire Patton Boggs, on Wednesday did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Hurley of Cleveland, is representing himself in the litigation. He said on Wednesday he was reviewing the submissions from the NBA and the union and declined to immediately comment.

Hurley said he was told he was barred in February 2021 from taking an online exam for would-be agents due to a "law licensing issue" concerning a suspension he disclosed in his application. A law license is not required to be a player agent, Hurley said.

He urged the 6th Circuit to find that the players union is not eligible for an antitrust exemption "due to conspiring with a non-union member to boycott [him] from taking" the exam for prospective agents.

The case is Rosel Hurley III v. National Basketball Players Association and NBA, 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-3038.

For NBA: Michael Shuster of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg; and Lynn Larsen of Taft Stettinius & Hollister

Source: Reuters

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