Cheerleading

9/21/2023 |  Varsity Sued by Insurer Over Sex-Abuse Coverage ‘Mistake’ (Sportico) Varsity Brands’ insurance company has asked a federal judge to correct what it says was a “mistakenly truncated” policy that could end up costing it millions in light of the spate of sex-abuse litigation filed against the cheerleading giant.
Last month, Arch Insurance filed a “reformation action” in U.S. District Court, seeking a judgment that would modify Varsity’s 2018-19 commercial general liability coverage to include the same “abuse & molestation” limitations that were part of its previous and subsequent coverage.

3/28/2023 |  Varsity Brands To Pay $43.5M In Antitrust Settlement (SGB UPDATE) Varsity Brands has agreed to pay $43.5 million to settle a federal lawsuit that the student apparel company and producer of cheerleading events abused its industry dominance, causing private gyms and spectators to pay artificially inflated prices.

3/27/2023 |  Varsity Strikes $43 Million Settlement With Antitrust Accusers (Sportico) Varsity Brands has agreed to pay $43.5 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit brought on behalf of a class of all-star cheerleading gyms, according to a copy of the agreement filed in the case.
The settlement deal, which still requires court approval, would bring to a final resolution one of three federal antitrust suits Varsity has been forced to defend over the last three years. The particular class of plaintiffs in the case, Fusion Elite All Stars, et al. v. Varsity Brands LLC, et al., are so-called “direct purchasers”—gyms and cheerleading spectators that paid registration and associated fees to participate in Varsity all-star events—over the last seven years.

3/21/2023 |  Varsity Antitrust Lawsuit Tossed Over Procedure (Sportico)   The once-imposing pyramid of antitrust litigation against cheerleading juggernaut Varsity is quickly tumbling down.
On Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed a three-year-old lawsuit filed against the Bain Capital-owned corporation by a group of smaller cheer competitors. Chief U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman’s ruling did not address the merits of the litigation, but rather what she described as the plaintiff’s “reckless disregard” for procedural rules in the “tortured history of discovery in this antitrust case.”

3/10/2023 |  Sex Abuse Suit Against ‘Cheer’ Star, Varsity Quietly Settled Last Year (Sportico)  high-profile lawsuit filed in 2020 by two underage cheerleaders who were sexually harassed and abused by Jerry Harris, who was featured in the Netflix show Cheer, secretly settled last fall.