Saints RB Bush could reach out-of-court settlement with plaintiffs

According reports by Yahoo Sports, former NCAA cornerback for USC Reggie Bush might have reached out-of-court settlement with the plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against him asking the star running back, who is currently wearing No. 25 New Orleans Saints jersey, and his family to return nearly $300,000 in cash and gifts they accepted during Bush’s college football career with the USC.

According to attorney Brian Watkins, the depositions scheduled to be made by the suitors on Wednesday have been cancelled. The suitors, Lloyd Lake and Michael Michaels tried to attract Bush as a client for their marketing firm, New Era, while he was at the University of Southern California. While Bush did not sign with New Era, they filed a lawsuit against the running back to ask for the money to be repaid. Michaels reached an out-of-court settlement with Bush’s family in April 2007 that included a confidentiality agreement, but in late December Bush lost his bid to go to confidential arbitration to settle Lake’s lawsuit and did not show up for a deposition scheduled in February 2008.

The lawsuit also caused Bush to be a subject in the NCAA investigation into USC's athletic program as they though he received possibly illegal benefits and violated association rules. If the investigators find that Bush is retroactively ineligible and determines that the USC violated rules, the player could lose his 2005 Heisman Trophy and his former college would have to their national championships in 2004 and 2005. But if an out-of-court settlement is reached between Bush and the plaintiffs, the NCAA and Pac-10 Conference would have to stop investigation and every one will keep what they already have.