Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is proud to announce a significant milestone in the evolution of college athletics: a settlement agreement with the NCAA that addresses outdated and restrictive prize money rules that have long limited student-athletes.

Representing Reese Brantmeier, Maya Joint, and a broader class of affected tennis players, this case challenged NCAA regulations that failed to reflect the modern realities of collegiate sports. For years, student-athletes competing at the highest levels—particularly in sports like tennis—faced restrictions on the prize money they could retain from tournaments, such as Wimbledon, Roland Garros, and the U.S. Open, even when those earnings were the direct result of their own talent and performance.

This litigation helped drive meaningful change. As part of the settlement, the NCAA has agreed to permanently revise its prize money rules across all sports. These changes ensure that future student-athletes will no longer be subject to the same restrictive framework, opening the door to greater fairness and opportunity nationwide. The impact will extend far beyond this case, shaping the experience of student-athletes for years to come.

While the agreement remains subject to final court approval, it is expected to provide long-overdue compensation to a large group of student-athletes who were previously denied the full value of their earnings.

This outcome was made possible by the leadership and determination of Reese and Maya, who stepped forward to challenge entrenched rules and advocate for change—not only for themselves, but for student-athletes across the country. “Reese and Maya deserve a lot credit for taking this case on, doing it for themselves but also for future student-athletes and not just in tennis but for all sports,” said Jason Miller, attorney for the class. “It’s a pretty remarkable accomplishment.”

Attorneys Jason Miller, Rob Rader, William Plyler, and Joel Lulla (of counsel) handled this case for Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, which was honored to have partnered with Milberg and Bryson Harris Suciu Demay in achieving this result. Together, we are proud to have played a role in advancing fairness, equity, and opportunity in college athletics.

Media Coverage

This case has drawn national attention, with coverage including:

• https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ncaa-pay-two-tennis-players-181625684.html
• https://frontofficesports.com/ncaa-tennis-prize-money-settlement/
• https://www.wral.com/sports/north-carolina-reese-brantmeier-proposed-settlement-with-ncaa-april-2026/
• https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/48628020/ncaa-overhaul-policy-athletes-earning-money-pre-college

For more information about this case or our work on behalf of student-athletes, please contact Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler at 919-809-7346 or visit our website at https://millermonroelaw.com/practice-areas/sports-law/.

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In recognition of his leadership and contributions to the firm, we are proud to announce that John Holton has become a named partner of our firm, which is now Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

John has built a reputation as a trusted advocate for clients and a leader in complex litigation. He exemplifies the values of integrity, excellence, community engagement, and client-first service that are so important to our firm. John’s elevation to named partner reflects not only his legal acumen and unwavering commitment to client advocacy, but also his alignment with our firm’s core values.

John’s practice focuses on serious personal injury cases and complex business disputes. He regularly appears before the North Carolina Business Court and has litigated several cases involving novel and complex legal issues shaping North Carolina jurisprudence.

Before joining the firm, John represented Fortune 500 companies, major insurers, and hospital systems as a defense attorney. He is licensed in both North and South Carolina and is active in numerous professional organizations including the NC and SC Bar Associations, Wake County Bar Association, American Advocates for Justice, and the North Carolina Advocates for Justice.

Please join us in congratulating John on this well-deserved recognition. We are thrilled to move forward as Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, continuing to serve clients throughout North Carolina with dedication and distinction.

Learn more about John here: https://millermonroelaw.com/about-the-firm/john-w-holton/

Learn more about Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler here: https://millermonroelaw.com/

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RALEIGH — September 24, 2024 — Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is pleased to announce that Morgan Brown has joined the firm’s civil litigation team and was sworn in to practice law in the State of North Carolina by the Honorable Paul C. Ridgeway, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge.  Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Morgan’s academic journey began at the University of Iowa, where she graduated with a B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Leadership in 2018.  Seeking warmer weather and new opportunities, she relocated to Louisiana to attend law school at Southern University Law Center.

Morgan graduated magna cum laude in May 2022, earning her Juris Doctor degree.  While at Southern, Morgan was actively involved as co-chair of the Office of Student Affairs and contributed to the Board of Student Advisors, the Tax Law Society, and the Class Planning Committee.

Before moving to North Carolina, Morgan practiced law in Louisiana, gaining extensive experience in a variety of legal matters.  She has represented clients in complex legal disputes, appeared in appellate courts, and participated in federal court mediations.  In addition to her practice in Louisiana, Morgan is admitted to the bar in Iowa.

With Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, Morgan’s practice areas will include commercial and construction litigation as well as personal injury, where she brings a dedicated personal approach to each case she handles.

“We are thrilled to have Morgan on our team.  Her diligent, unwavering approach and high character are ever-present in her work.  Morgan’s personality dovetails perfectly with our firm culture and she has already begun delivering value to our clients,” said Jason Miller, Partner, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

“Morgan has quickly become a tremendous asset to our firm.  She displays an aptitude for navigating complex legal issues.  Having recently been admitted to practice in North Carolina, she is excited to get back into the courtroom as an advocate for our clients,” said Jeff Monroe, Partner, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

Founded in 2009, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is a civil litigation firm serving corporations, small businesses, and individuals in the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill areas, and throughout the State of North Carolina.  The firm’s primary practice areas include business and commercial litigation, construction litigation, personal injury and wrongful death, estate litigation, land condemnation, sports law, and general civil litigation matters.

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For more information, press only:

Jason Miller, 919-809-7346, jmiller@millermonroe.com

For more information on Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler:

www.millermonroe.com

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RALEIGH, NC. Attorneys from Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler (together with Of Counsel Joel Lulla) and Milberg have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (“UNC”) student Reese Brantmeier alleging antitrust violations against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”). The lawsuit asks a U.S. District Court to strike down the NCAA’s restrictions on student-athletes’ acceptance of prize money earned in non-NCAA competitions.

The NCAA’s longstanding “amateurism” rules prohibit student-athletes from accepting prize money earned primarily through participation in non-NCAA competitions, such as the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the U.S. Open Golf Championship, the U.S. Swimming Championships, and the U.S. Track and Field Championships.

Reese Brantmeier, a sophomore at UNC and currently the No. 2 ranked singles and No. 1 ranked doubles collegiate tennis player in the country, filed the action on behalf of herself and other student-athletes competing in individual sports whose earning ability has been suppressed by the NCAA’s unlawful and anticompetitive restrictions.

The NCAA refused to certify Brantmeier as an amateur in the fall of 2022, her first semester of college and on the UNC Women’s Tennis team, citing her acceptance of tournament prize money at the 2021 U.S. Open as a violation of the NCAA’s Rules protecting “amateurism.” Brantmeier advanced to the third round of singles in the 2021 U.S. Open Qualifying Tournament and lost in the first round of the main draw of the 2021 U.S. Open Mixed Doubles Championship.

Despite being entitled to receive over $40,000 in prize money, in an effort to preserve her eligibility to play collegiately, Brantmeier accepted the applicable NCAA cap of $10,000 plus her “actual and necessary” expenses as permitted by the NCAA.

Specifically, the NCAA challenged Brantmeier’s inclusion of the full cost (rather than half) of the hotel room she shared with her mother during tennis tournaments as part of her expenses — Reese was a 16-year-old high school junior at the time. Likewise, the NCAA objected to Brantmeier’s expense for a racket restringing 15 days prior to the competition, stating that this expense fell outside an alleged 14-day window that is absent from its rules, but the NCAA contended was “generally applied.”

As a result of the NCAA’s investigation, Brantmeier missed the fall 2022 NCAA tennis season and was not cleared to play until January 2023, after the NCAA required her to personally contribute more than $5,000 to charity.

“We are hopeful that the NCAA has been so focused on their myriad adverse court rulings that have struck down illegal NCAA rules that restrict student-athlete benefits and compensation, particularly NIL-related compensation, that they simply haven’t paid attention to their still-existing illegal prize money rules that arbitrarily discriminate against student-athletes in non-revenue sports. We are cautiously optimistic that by bringing this action, we are now forcing the NCAA to focus on their prize money rules and they will agree that the rules are illegal, discriminatory and unfair and must be rescinded” said Joel Lulla, Of Counsel to Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler and faculty member at The University of Texas at Austin.

“Reese and many other student-athletes have been harmed and continue to be harmed by the NCAA rules and by-laws that prevent these athletes from accepting prize money they have earned through non-NCAA competitions. Reese does not seek money but aims to eliminate the NCAA’s illegal and arbitrary restrictions,” said Peggy Wedgworth, a Senior Partner at Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman.

“Reese has done all the right things in life. She is a remarkable student and athlete. She plays by the rules. She gave up tens of thousands of dollars in prize money and still lost her first semester of college tennis based on the NCAA’s arbitrary, misguided, and trivial rules. We see this lawsuit as an opportunity to prevent this from happening again to other student-athletes like Reese,” said Jason Miller, a partner with Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

Through attorneys with Milberg and Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, Brantmeier is seeking an injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing its anticompetitive and unlawful rules restricting student-athletes’ acceptance of prize money earned in non-NCAA competitions.

About Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

Founded in 2009, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is a boutique civil litigation firm serving corporations, small businesses, and individuals throughout the State of North Carolina. Its litigation team has decades of in-court litigation experience and extensive business acumen. The firm’s primary practice areas include complex business and construction litigation, sports law, personal injury and wrongful death, and general civil litigation.

About Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman.

Since the firm’s founding in 1965, it has repeatedly taken the lead in landmark cases that have set groundbreaking legal precedents, prompted changes in corporate governance, and recovered over $50 billion in verdicts and settlements. The firm pioneered federal class action litigation and is widely recognized as a leader in defending the rights of victims of corporate and other large-scale wrongdoing.

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For more information, press only:

Jason Miller, 919-809-7346, jmiller@millermonroe.com

For more information on Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler PLLC:

www.millermonroe.com

For more information on Milberg:

www.milberg.com

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Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler was featured on the cover of this month’s Attorney At Law Magazine. 

If you would like to read the article, click here.

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Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is pleased to announce that four of its attorneys were selected by their peers as members of North Carolina Super Lawyers for 2023.  Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.

The MMHP attorneys recognized by Super Lawyers are:

Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Litigation
Jeff Monroe
William Plyler

Business Litigation
Jason Miller

Alternative Dispute Resolution
Paul Flick

MMHP is a boutique litigation firm focusing on business, construction, personal injury, and estate litigation.  MMHP also offers eminent domain and sports law practice groups.

For more information about the Super Lawyers methodology, visit http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html.

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Will Smith

RALEIGH — June 14, 2022 — Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is pleased to announce that Will Smith has joined the firm to launch its Eminent Domain and Land Condemnation practice, representing landowners when the government and other condemning authorities take property for public use.  Will is a graduate of Virginia Tech (B.S. Marketing Management) and Campbell University School of Law (J.D.).

Since 2017, Will has served as an Assistant Attorney General with the North Carolina Department of Justice, litigating land condemnation matters for the North Carolina Department of Transportation throughout the State.  He helped oversee and manage the “Map Act” litigation, a project that included over 500 cases across the State of North Carolina and involved a novel area of eminent domain law.  After working on the Map Act litigation and helping to see the first cases through trial and appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Will switched his focus to representing the NCDOT in more general condemnation cases and was involved in numerous jury trials.  Before joining the North Carolina Department of Justice, Will served as Deputy General Counsel with the North Carolina Department of Transportation from 2014 – 2017, advising the Department on a broad array of legal issues affecting the NCDOT.

“Given the firm’s extensive relationships in commercial and residential real estate development and construction, offering land condemnation and land use services to our clients has long been a goal of ours.  When the opportunity to partner with a highly respected legal mind and pillar of our community in Will Smith, it became clear the time was now for us to launch these practice areas.” said Jason Miller, Partner, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler.

Prior to entering public service, Will worked for McGuireWoods, where he represented one of the largest banks in the country in mortgage disputes and Fair Credit Reporting Act cases.

With MMHP, Will’s practices areas will include land condemnation (eminent domain), land use and rezoning, construction law, and commercial litigation.

“We are incredibly honored to have Will join our team.  On the personal side, his family and community focus align perfectly with our firm’s values and, on the legal side, his extensive experience in land condemnation will allow our firm to provide tremendous value to our existing clients and new clients throughout the State,” added Jeff Monroe, Partner.

Will was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, and has lived in North Carolina since 2004, residing in Buies Creek, Charlotte, and now Raleigh.  Will and his wife Meredith have lived in Raleigh since 2013.  Meredith is a native of Greensboro, NC, and is a professor at the UNC School of Government.  Will and Meredith have two children, a boy and a girl.  In his free time Will serves as a certified therapy dog team lead with his dog Sunny, visiting area hospitals.  Will also enjoys coaching his children’s youth basketball teams and rooting on his Hokies.

Founded in 2009, Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler is a civil litigation firm serving corporations, small businesses, and individuals in the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill areas, and throughout the State of North Carolina.  The firm’s primary practice areas include business and commercial litigation, construction litigation, personal injury and wrongful death, estate litigation, creditor’s rights – bankruptcy, land condemnation, sports law, and general civil litigation matters.

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For more information, press only:

Jason Miller, 919-809-7346, jmiller@millermonroe.com

For more information on Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, PLLC:

www.millermonroe.com

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Business North Carolina magazine honors Tar Heel lawyers by publishing Business North Carolina’s Legal Elite, a listing of the State’s top lawyers in business-related categories. Winners are chosen not by the magazine’s editors, but by the state’s lawyers. In developing the list, Business North Carolina made ballots available to more than 20,000 Tar Heel Lawyers and only 3% were selected for Legal Elite.

Jason A. Miller has litigation experience in state and federal courts throughout North Carolina and beyond.  He has represented Fortune 500 companies in complex business litigation matters, builders and developers in real property disputes, information technology companies in trade secrets disputes, partners in closely-held company disputes, investors in business deals gone awry, and dozens of cases in between.  Mr. Miller has litigated matters in more than a dozen counties in North Carolina and is licensed to practice in every state and federal court in North Carolina.  Mr. Miller is also licensed to practice law in the state of New York.

Jeffrey R. Monroe has a broad litigation practice with a focus on fiduciary disputes and personal injury claims.  He often represents individuals in will caveat actions, estate disputes, and cases involving mismanagement of funds entrusted to a guardian, trustee, administrator, or other fiduciary.  Mr. Monroe also has extensive experience litigating business disputes, construction disputes, and a variety of other civil litigation matters.

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Impossibility/Impracticability of Performance

The first two doctrines are “Impossibility of Performance” and “Impracticability of Performance”. Impossibility excuses both parties to a contract from having to perform where the subject matter of the contract is destroyed.  “Impossibility of performance is recognized in this jurisdiction as excusing a party from performing under an executory contract if the subject matter of the contract is destroyed without fault of the party seeking to be excused from performance.” WRI/Raleigh, L.P. v. Shaikh, 183 N.C. App. 249, 253–54, 644 S.E.2d 245, 247–48 (2007) (citing Brenner v. Little Red School House, Ltd., 302 N.C. 207, 210, 274 S.E.2d 206, 209 (1981). See also Steamboat Co. v. Transportation Co., 166 N.C. 582, 82 S.E. 956 (1914) (applying doctrine to contract between ship owner and party leasing it for ferrying purposes when ship was destroyed by fire through no fault of parties); Barnes v. Ford Motor Co., 95 N.C. App. 367, 382 S.E.2d 842 (1989) (affirming trial court’s instruction on doctrine of impossibility where subject matter of lease, a tractor, was destroyed).  The related doctrine of impracticability can excuse performance where the performance is not practicable for the performing party.  Impracticability also requires an occurrence of an event outside of the control of the parties and which could not have reasonable been foreseen at the time of the contracting.

Frustration of Purpose

Another legal doctrine, “Frustration of Purpose,” is similar to “Impossibility of Performance,” but provides broader applicability. “Although the doctrines of frustration and impossibility are akin, frustration is not a form of impossibility of performance.  It more properly relates to the consideration for performance.  Under this doctrine performance remains possible, but is excused whenever a fortuitous event supervenes to cause a failure of the consideration or a practically total destruction of the expected value of the performance. The doctrine of commercial frustration is based upon the fundamental premise of giving relief in a situation where the parties could not reasonably have protected themselves by the terms of the contract against contingencies which later arose.’ ” Shaikh, 183 N.C. App. 253–54, 644 S.E.2d 247–48 (citing Brenner, 302 N.C. at 211, 274 S.E.2d at 209 (quoting 17 Am.Jur.2d Contracts § 401).

However, the doctrine of frustration cannot be used where the frustrating event was reasonably foreseeable. Id. (citing Brenner, 302 N.C. at 211, 274 S.E.2d at 209).  The legal question will be whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was reasonably foreseeable for the vendor/landlord and the business owner.

Conclusion

Although the cases discussed above do provide arguments as to potential defenses for business owners, North Carolina courts have been quite reticent to allow tenants to use these defenses where the property that is the subject matter of the contract was not physically destroyed.  Typically, Courts have attempted to defer to the language of the contract – such as a Force Majeure provision that provides temporary relief to parties during an “Act of God.”  This blog post is not intended to provide the false illusion that these defenses will prevail in protecting business owners against damages claims by vendors/landlords.  Our hope is simply that the recognition of the potential defenses and the very real possibility that Courts of this state might just apply these defenses in the context of COVID-19 will serve as a strong incentive for business operators and vendors/landlords to work collaboratively to find solutions that allow our bars, restaurants, hotels and other businesses to continue serving our community long after this crisis passes, while not creating undue financial distress on vendors and property owners.

About Us

At Miller Monroe Holton & Plyler, our attorneys have extensive experience litigating contract and business disputes.  More importantly, we are committed to our community and hope to serve as a resource to help business owners mitigate losses and resume normal operations after this crisis subsides.  If you are facing a contract dispute involving your business, please do not hesitate to call us at 919-809-7346.

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It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that being a lawyer was in Rob Rader’s blood.

“I was one of those kids who knew what I wanted to do from a very young age,” he says. “I always knew it would be law school.”

This isn’t a surprise, given that Rob is the son of two prominent Raleigh attorneys: Chief District Court Judge Robert Rader and Megg Rader, a former nonprofit executive director and a fixture in the local community. Although his mother never practiced law, Rob recalls being inspired at a young age by her passion for service. And as for his father, Rob cites his leadership in the community as a catalyst for his own professional development.

“Growing up and seeing how he carried himself, how people treated him, and how he interacted in the community made me realize that I wanted to follow the path he paved.”

Raleigh Roots and the Road to MMHP

Born and raised in Raleigh, Rob is an N.C. State graduate who ventured to Chapel Hill for law school before heading back to his hometown. Other than a stint in D.C. for an internship in the office of Representative David Price and a summer studying international law at the London School of Economics, Rob always intended to return to his roots. “I always knew I wanted to come back to Raleigh,” he says, “to practice here, and to start building my career. I’m really excited to start getting involved.” Landing at Miller Monroe and Plyler seemed a natural choice, given his prior experience working with partner William Plyler at another prominent Raleigh firm. “I worked with William for a few summers, and that was the first time I was exposed to what it takes to be an elite lawyer.” Outside of his parents, Rob says, “William was a huge influence.”

As a new attorney with MMHP, Rob’s focus spans the firm’s three primary practice areas: business litigation, personal injury, and estate and fiduciary litigation. “I’ve been enjoying learning it all,” he says. While he does not yet know which practice area will become his ultimate focus, Rob has always been certain that litigation is his professional calling.

“I never thought of being a lawyer without being in the courtroom,” he says. “That’s how I’ve always viewed the role of a lawyer: Making arguments, presenting cases…that is the part that inspires me.”

Rob’s law school career makes this abundantly evident. At UNC Law, Rob was a member of the Broun National Trial Team and the Julius L. Chambers Civil Rights Appellate Advocacy Team. As a member of a four-person team of Broun National Trial Team members, Rob brought home the first-place award at the 27^th Annual SDDL National Mock Trial Competition. Rob shares that he intends to continue honing his advocacy skills as an attorney at MMHP. “My first jury trial just wrapped up the week before Christmas.  It was a surreal experience, and I’m incredibly fortunate to have been able to be a part of one at such an early stage in my practice.”

Leveraging Influence for Good

Aside from the thrill of the courtroom, Rob cites the service core of the legal profession as a tremendous motivator. “In law school, they don’t teach you about client counseling. But in reality, people come to you with problems that consume their lives, and until you see them and interact with them, you never really understand your impact,” he says. “It’s pretty awesome knowing you are in a position to do a lot of good.”

For Rob, MMHP is clearly the place to learn firsthand the value of seeing, knowing, understanding, and resolving real client issues. “The partners here have a really good understanding that the number of hours you bill is secondary…It is about giving back to the community, valuing time with family and friends, and having a good work-life balance,” he says. “They know that this is what having a successful practice is all about.”

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