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The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth District, decided that an allegation by an NFL football player ' that his agent breached a fiduciary duty to him by failing to repay investment loans the player made to the agent ' didn't place the claim within the arbitration provision of the NFL representation agreement. Morton v. Steinberg, G037793. Athlete Chad Morton had sued his agent Leigh Steinberg and several other parties over their alleged failure to repay loans Morton made to them, including for a music-concert venture in China. The trial court denied Steinberg's petition to compel arbitration. Affirming, the court of appeal explained in an unpublished opinion: 'Both the representation agreement and the NFLPA regulations address the provision of services by an athlete agent to an athlete within the limited context of negotiating and enforcing the player's employment agreement with a professional football team, namely 'individual contract negotiations,' in the words of the regulations. Steinberg attempts to broaden the scope of these documents by arguing his alleged breaches of contract and allegedly fraudulent conduct are within the scope of the NFLPA regulations and therefore the arbitration provision in the representation agreement, because the regulations require the contract advisor to '[a]ct at all times in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of players,' and prohibit certain conduct on the part of the contract advisor '. When we consider the full text of the regulations, we conclude they address the conduct of agents in the context of their actions or omissions as agents under the representation agreement. The acts and omissions placed at issue by Morton's complaint are outside the scope of the representation agreement.'

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