Settlement reached in case against NCAA

A settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by former college athletes who alleged the NCAA failed to cover the full cost of their education has been formally approved by a Los Angeles federal judge.

Under the settlement, approved Aug. 5 according to court documents obtained Monday, the NCAA will create a $10 million fund over the next three years to reimburse former student athletes for educational costs they previously incurred. The NCAA will also make an additional $218 million available to current Division I schools to pay for benefits given to college athletes enrolled between the 2007 and 2013 academic years.

NCAA Division I schools may also provide basic accident insurance coverage for injuries that students sustained while participating in college athletics. But under the settlement, the schools are not required to do so.

The same schools have approved the adoption of a rule permitting, but not requiring, them to provide year-round comprehensive health insurance to student athletes.

The settlement, approved by U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank, stemmed from a case brought in 2006 by former Stanford football player Jason White, ex-UCLA football player Brian Polak, and Jovan Harris, who played basketball for the University of San Francisco.

Courts

Man pleads guilty in Porter murder case

In Minneapolis, a second defendant pleaded guilty in the beating death of former Villanova basketball star Howard Porter, taking a plea agreement that calls for him to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Rashad Raleigh, 29, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and will be sentenced Sept. 8. In exchange, Ramsey County won’t prosecute him for last year’s triple murder of a St. Paul woman, her boyfriend and daughter, though federal prosecutors could still charge him in that case.

Another defendant, Tonya E. Johnson, admitted earlier to luring Porter to her St. Paul home, and pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aggravated robbery