Quite an interesting soap opera regarding this high school player that transferred from Georgia to Los Alamitos after chasing an NIL deal.....
from OC Register
Los Alamitos football player T.A. Cunningham seeks court injunction to attain immediate eligibility Cunningham’s attorney says the player was denied ‘due process’ and is seeking a temporary restraining order that could allow him to play this week
Los Alamitos football player T.A. Cunningham has filed for an injunction to be allowed to play starting this week, according to a court filing that alleges that the touted transfer from Georgia was misled while pursuing NIL deals.
Cunningham, a 6-foot-6, 265-pound defensive lineman with nearly 60 college scholarship offers, has not played this season for the Griffins. He was waiting for his transfer paperwork to be processed, and late last week he was denied a hardship waiver by the CIF Southern Section.
The junior, the consensus No. 1 defensive lineman in the nation for his class, transferred to Los Alamitos during the offseason from Georgia.
In a filing with Orange County Superior Court, Cunningham requests “injunctive relief” from the CIF-SS and the CIF State and requests that he receive “unrestricted residential transfer eligibility.”
“The Court is asked to enter an immediate order that (Cunningham) be permitted to play in all contests this season, including but not limited to the Sept. 15, 2022, 7:00 p.m. game between LAHS and Santa Margarita Catholic High School,” the court filing states.
Michael Caspino, the attorney representing Cunningham, said Wednesday that Cunningham was denied “due process” and that he will be pursuing a temporary restraining order that could allow Cunningham to play Thursday.
The filing alleges that Cunningham was given a “one-year sit-out period” by the CIF-SS that will keep him off the field until the 2023 season.
The CIF Southern Section and CIF State declined to comment Wednesday.
“We do not comment on pending litigation,” said Thom Simmons, section assistant commissioner and spokesperson.
Cunningham’s lawsuit details his family’s eviction on June 13 from its home in Fulton County, Ga., and states that their transfer “problems” were the result of “unscrupulous NIL agents.”
The filing also states that Cunningham didn’t move with his parents in June and has been living off the “generosity of fellow teammates who allowed him to sleep on their couch for days at a time.”
NIL agreements, which cover name, image and likeness, allow students to be financially compensated by businesses that use their names and photos and have become an increasingly popular trend for high school athletes.
The Cunningham family, the filing alleges, discussed a “California plan” with Levels Sports to move to California to seek lucrative NIL deals.
The connection to Levels Sports was made by Florida-based attorney Darren Heitner, according to the filing.
“Levels Team promised that the Cunningham family would have a home, transportation and meals in California. A promise was even made that the Levels Team would provide a separate home in Georgia for (Cunningham’s) mother,” the lawsuit states.
The Levels team, the filing states, included Chris “Frogg” Flores, a former youth sports trainer with Orange County-based STARS academy who in August was charged with six counts of molesting a teenager. Flores pleaded not guilty, was released from custody and has a pretrial hearing scheduled for Oct. 28.
Cunningham and his brother were living with Flores when they first moved to the area, the filing states.
“Flores’ role was to market Cunningham to university football programs’ collective groups in order to obtain a lucrative NIL deal,” the filing states. “Flores and Levels paid for (Cunningham) to visit the following football programs: USC, UCLA, Michigan, Michigan State, Central Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas and Texas A & M.”
But Cunningham, the filing states, didn’t secure any NIL deals.
And after Flores’ arrest, Levels Sports “went completely dark,” according to the court filing.
“(Cunningham) asked that his contract with Levels be rescinded. Levels complied with this request,” the court filing states. “(Cunningham) is homeless. He did not receive the NIL deals that were promised by the Levels Team. He has been victimized.”
“The despicable actions of the NIL agents should have been considered as a mitigating factor,” the filing adds.
Justin Giangrande, co-founder of Levels with whom Cunningham signed a marketing deal with in June, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Flores also didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.
The filing includes a brochure for Levels Sports that lists Flores as co-founder and Heitner as external counsel.
“I have provided legal support to the company in the past,” Heitner stated in an email Wednesday. “I can’t tell you whether it still considers me to be ‘external counsel’ and I’m not completely sure what that even means. I have no equity in the company and have no involvement with the company on a day-to-day basis.”
Heitner, in a lengthy statement, said he referred Cunningham’s father to Giangrande but alleges his name has been smeared by the filing.
“I only made the introduction to Giangrande after (Cunningham’s father) indicated the family was moving to California and my intention was to ensure that, if they move to California, they would be surrounded by someone reputable,” Heitner wrote in a statement. “No one, whether it be a five star athlete or not, should be stuck in such a deplorable position.”
Caspino has ties to the NIL process. The Newport Beach-based attorney said he has documented NIL deals with athletes, including working with Warren quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who has committed to Tennessee. Iamaleava is believed to have signed a NIL deal worth several several million dollars.
CIF-SS rules state that homeless students can be determined “residentially eligible” for full participation in athletics if “all other CIF rules and regulations are met.”
The court filing by Caspino includes an email that raised questions about Cunningham having potentially illegal pre-enrollment contact with the Los Alamitos coaching staff. The email was “key evidence” heard by CIF officials in their hearing about Cunningham, the lawsuit alleges. “The key evidence presented during the hearing was a hearsay email that makes a number of incendiary allegations against (Cunningham),” the court filing reads. “(CIF officials) appear to have knowledge of the identity of the author of the email, however they refuse to divulge the name of this individual. (CIF) relied upon this email and gave (Cunningham) no opportunity to identify or cross-examine the author of the email.”
Los Alamitos Unified School District superintendent Andrew Pulver didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
That is quite a tale. The CIF ruling is based on CA residence? Thats the last remaining rule regarding amateur athletics I presume.