Finding an Economic Damages Expert Witness for the U. S. Women's National Soccer Team

Case Details
Court: US District Court for the Central District of California
Case Number: 2:19-cv-01717
Case Name: Alex Morgan et al v. United States Soccer Federation, Inc.

Challenge
The law firm Winston & Strawn was representing the U. S. Women's National Team (USWNT) in their equal pay lawsuit against the U. S. Soccer Federation (USSF). The USWNT claimed USSF violated the Equal Pay Act and Title VII. The law firm sought a damages expert who could assess what the financial damages awarded should be.

The GLG Approach
The GLG Law team spoke with the law firm to determine the background and knowledge the right expert witness would need. The team custom recruited candidates to present to the client, and the firm selected Finnie Cook, a PhD economist with experience assessing economic damages.

Dr. Cook submitted a report that estimated the backpay owed to the players under Title VII if they had been compensated under the Men's National Team collective bargaining agreement. She also included interest and liquidated damages with these figures.

Outcome
For willful violation of the Equal Pay Act, Dr. Cook estimated the liquidated damages would be $29.7 million and that backpay and interest owed under Title VII would be $66.7 million. A judge dismissed the equal pay assertion in May of 2020, but the case was appealed in December of 2021 and the USWNT settled their class action lawsuit for $24 million and reached a new collective bargaining agreement.