A three year legal battle in federal district court between NBA superstar and former Duke University standout, Zion Williamson, and his former agent was brought to a close earlier this month in the Middle District of North Carolina.

Approximately a week before the 2019 NBA draft, Williamson filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a contract with his former agent, Gina Ford, and with her agency, Prime Sports Marketing LLC. The Complaint alleged that during the 2018-2019 NCAA basketball season Ford and Prime Sports Marketing initiated contact with Williamson in an effort to sign him to an agency contract and that five days after announcing his intent to declare for the 2019 NBA draft, Williamson inked a deal with Ford and her agency.

Williamson would go on to be drafted with the number one overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans, signing a four-year, $44.2 million rookie deal. However, before the draft, court filings indicate that Williamson switched agents and signed with Creative Artists Agency, LLC (“CAA”), a titan in the sports and entertainment industry. As a result, Prime Sports Marketing sued CAA in a separate and ongoing federal action in Florida seeking damages for contractual breach and interference with contract among other claims.

In seeking to void his contract with Ford and Prime Sports Marketing, Williamson alleged that the contract violated North Carolina’s Uniform Athlete Agents Act (“UAAA”) along with the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Defendants countered that the UAAA was inapplicable because at the time the contract was signed, Williamson was not a student-athlete at Duke due to alleged NCAA violations. District Court Judge Loretta Biggs rejected Defendants’ claims and ruled in January 2021 that available evidence showed that Williamson was a student-athlete at Duke at all times relevant to the agreement and the UAAA applied. Further, the Court found that because Ford was not registered as an agent in North Carolina as required under the UAAA and the agreement with Prime Sports Marketing failed to contain statutorily required terms, the agreement was void. Accordingly, the Court granted judgment as a matter of law to Williamson invalidating the agent agreement with Ford and Prime Sports Marketing.

The case slogged on through 2022 focusing on Defendants’ counterclaims, however, the Court ultimately entered judgment in Williamsons’ favor after granting his attorneys’ motion for summary judgment in July. Ford and Prime Sports Marketing have filed a notice of appeal with the Fourth Circuit.

Additional case information is available on PACER in the Middle District of North Carolina, case no. 1:19-CV-593 and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, case no. 22-1793.