By AP
Lansing, MI – Lansing, MI (AP) - The Michigan High School Athletic Association has agreed to pay $6 million in legal fees in a landmark case that changed the seasons for girls basketball and volleyball.
The MHSAA would immediately pay $2.5 million, then make smaller annual payments until May 2015.
Without a settlement, the high school association could be on the hook for millions more, including interest.
A group calling itself Communities for Equity filed a lawsuit in federal court in 1998, claiming prep sports seasons discriminated against girls and violated state and federal law.
In 2001, a federal judge in Kalamazoo agreed.
The deal on legal fees was filed Wednesday and needs the approval of U.S.
District Judge Paul Maloney.
He refused to allow the settlement to be filed under seal.