US Soccer Women’s Shares of Pay Bias Pact Forecast for Court

The US women’s soccer team asked a federal court to grant final approval of their $24 million pay discrimination settlement with US Soccer Federation Inc., despite the objections of former team member Hope Solo.

The filing with the US District Court for the Central District of California Tuesday includes estimates of how much each of the 72 class members will receive under the pact, which was preliminarily approved on Aug. 11.

Former team co-captains Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, and Megan Rapinoe are estimated to receive $594,233, $639,273, and $565,917, respectively, the declaration said. They are three of the 12 class members expected to receive more than $500,000 under the pact, with a top payment of $643,873.

Another 22 women are predicted to receive amounts ranging from $242,350 to $371,964, and the remaining 38 class members are expected to get between $0 and $54,739, according to the declaration. The women forecast to receive no money either maintained their amateur status while playing for the team or participated just in camps and never made a game roster, the filing said.

Solo is expected to get $339,999, according to a declaration attached to the motion for final approval. That makes moot her objection that the class settlement notice didn’t state how much each player would receive, the motion said.

The individual settlement shares will be calculated based on the types of games in which a team member played and the team’s win-loss rate during the player’s tenure, the filing said. The final class fund in which the women will share is estimated as a little more than $14 million after subtracting for attorneys’ fees and related costs, the filing said.

A second motion filed Tuesday seeks approval of a $6.6 million award in class counsel fees and expenses. That amount is 30% of the $22 million portion of the settlement dedicated to monetary awards and doesn’t consider the extra $2 million fund established to benefit the women’s post-playing career goals, the filing said.

The attorneys’ fees and costs motion should be approved because it’s less than 60% of the roughly $11.5 million class counsel could receive under the traditional method of calculating fees awards, the filing said. And class counsel incurred more than $12 million in attorney time and out-of-pocket expenses in litigating the case, the filing said.

Solo’s objection to the $6.6 million fees award “is meritless” and fails to address the relevant standard, according to the filing.

Final settlement approval is warranted because the rest of the class members reacted favorably to the settlement, including the attorney’s fees allocation, the filing said.

The pact, which also resulted in US Soccer equalizing the women’s future pay conditions with its men’s team, accomplished the lawsuit’s “historic goal,” the players said.

Winston & Strawn LLP represents the players. Latham & Watkins LLP represents US Soccer.

The case is Morgan v. U.S. Soccer Fed’n, Inc., C.D. Cal., No. 2:19-cv-01717, motion for final approval of settlement 11/1/22.