LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There’s been another turn in the local lawsuit against the NCAA.
Judge Brian Edwards with the Jefferson County Circuit Court has granted the new temporary injunction filed by the plaintiffs in the Wells vs. NCAA case, according to court documents.
This means that, while the lawsuit is still ongoing, the 38 student-athletes who filed the lawsuit are back to being eligible to play in the 2026-27 athletics season. They had previously been deemed ineligible by the Kentucky Court of Appeals earlier this month.
Among the plaintiffs are Louisville men’s basketball players Seth Trimble and L.J. Wells, Louisville football players Jabari Mack and Kalib Perry, plus Kentucky football linebacker Alex Afari Jr. Two other notable plaintiffs are Missouri men’s basketball forward Mark Mitchell and Texas Tech quarterback Thomas Castellanos.
Originally filed back on Aug. 12, the lawsuit aims to grandfather the student-athletes in the case into the NCAA’s five-for-five eligibility model. All the plaintiffs are Class of 2022 players whose collegiate eligibility was exhausted this past season. Judge Brian Edwards granted a temporary restraining order in the case on Aug. 21, temporarily giving the players the ability to play this upcoming season.
However, the NCAA filed a motion requesting that the TRO be re-characterized as a temporary injunction – thus making it subject to review by the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
A three-judge panel then determined that not only should the TRO have been a temporary injunction, but that it was improperly granted “based upon insufficient evidence.” As a result, on Oct. 2, the panel then dissolved the Aug. 12 order – making the players ineligible again.
The plaintiffs filed a new temporary injunction, and a 4.5-hour hearing was held earlier this week between the two sides. The hearing, which included testimony from UofL head coach Pat Kelsey, played a role in Edwards’ siding with the plaintiffs.
“The NCAA has inconsistently applied its own proportionality framework by treating former professional players and junior-college athletes differently from Plaintiffs,” Edwards wrote. “Waivers have been given and denied for 5th, 6th, and even 7th seasons of eligibility with no consistent explanation as to why.
“The Court can reach no other conclusion other than that this is arbitrary,” Edwards continued. “Here, the Court finds that the Defendant’s current position is so arbitrary that it breaches the contract and promises that the Defendant entered into with the Plaintiffs.”
