An appellate court has overturned the NCAA’s attempt to change judges in former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair’s defamation lawsuit against the organization.
In an 11-page opinion issued Friday, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal said the trial court erred in accepting the NCAA’s challenge earlier this year to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller’s continued participation in the case.
“And, according to the NCAA, this case has been assigned to eight judges in five years, and so another reassignment will only further delay trial while a new jurist becomes familiar with the case,” the opinion said.