A judge yesterday approved an agreement between the University of Pittsburgh and season-ticket holders who want to retain preferential seating for men's basketball games.

The settlement ends a class-action lawsuit against the university that all sides believe could have become costly and protracted.

"The court recognizes that there's an emotional [aspect], and that more than money is involved," Common Pleas Judge Robert P. Horgos said in granting the motion by both sides to settle their differences.

"Without the diligence of counsel, these things can get out of hand," he added.

Members of the class-action suit, which was filed by the law firm Stember Feinstein Krakoff, will retain their seats at the Petersen Events Center for the next five years by buying their regular season tickets and maintaining a minimum donation level set by the university.

The minimum donation to retain seats for next season is $250 for a holder of two season tickets. That sum will increase to $300 for the 2006-07 season.

"We're satisfied," said John Stember, the lead attorney for season-ticket holders who also has tickets himself. "This has never been about the money."

The suit was filed after the university announced plans to reassign seat locations in the general seating area for men's basketball games based on contributions made to the program above the cost of tickets.

Season ticket-holders in the general seating area selected their seats before the 2002-03 season, the first at the Petersen Events Center. In 2003-04 and this past season, season-ticket holders in the general seating area were able to retain the same seats whether they made any contributions to Team Pittsburgh in each of those years.

Team Pittsburgh, the fund-raising arm of the university, has since been renamed the Panther Club.

Stember has said that about 650 people will be protected by the settlement.

Horgos ruled that, since no members of the class-action objected to the settlement by the June 22 deadline, the agreement is final. Notices of the proposal were sent last month to the ticket holders.

A clause in the settlement absolves the university of liability.

All other season-ticket holders who are not members of the class-action suit are subject to the agreement. Otherwise, through individual litigation, an inequitable result could occur.

"Most of these people are Pitt supporters," said attorney Michael Manzo, of the firm Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling, which represented the university in the suit.

"They're funding an athletic operation of full scope. Everybody kind of wanted the same thing down the road, a first-rate program."

Stember said that he fought the seating changes because he thought they were unfair in light of previous representations made by Pitt.

Terms of the settlement can be viewed in the Internet at www.sfklaw.net, or at the Allegheny County Prothonotary's office and Web site.

For those members of the suit who wish to retain their seats, donations must be made to Pitt by July 15.

Pitt's reseating plan, part of the school's Quest for Excellence fund-raising campaign, is based on a priority points system, the largest factor of which is donation level.

In a statement last month, Pitt athletic director Jeff Long called the case a "misunderstanding."

"We are taking an approach that recognizes prior and ongoing support and advances our efforts to raise the much-needed funds to compete at the NCAA's highest level," he said in the statement.

Long declined further comment yesterday.

Under terms of the agreement, Pitt has agreed to pay attorney's fees in the amount of $35,000 for the ticket holders.