Due date for ruling on sealing Todd McNair documents extended
The due date for an appellate court’s ruling on sealing hundreds of pages of internal NCAA emails and other documents in former USC running backs coach Todd McNair’s defamation lawsuit has been extended to Feb. 2, according to court records.
The ruling was originally due Jan. 2.
At an October hearing, a three-justice panel in California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal challenged the NCAA’s argument that unsealing the documents would hinder future investigations by the organization.
Laura Wytsma, representing the NCAA, told the justices that the organization isn’t trying to obscure “wrongful conduct” by sealing the documents.
“The NCAA has been as transparent as it can be on this one,” Wytsma said.
The Los Angeles Times and New York Times have asked the appellate court to make the documents public.
The long-running case dates to 2011, when McNair sued the NCAA after being penalized in connection with the investigation of former USC running back Reggie Bush.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge wrote two years ago that the emails the NCAA conditionally filed under seal “tend to show ill will or hatred.”
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