USC Gains a Restraining Order Against Caron : Colleges: Superior Court ruling forbids sports agent and his company from contacting Trojan athletes. Hearing date set.

Superior Court Judge Richard O’Brien issued a temporary retraining order Friday prohibiting Robert Troy Caron or representatives of his Pro Manage sports agency from contacting USC athletes.

The action in L.A. County Superior Court was the first of what USC officials hope will eventually stop agents from offering athletes inducements that violate NCAA regulations.

USC filed a civil suit against Caron, 37, seeking a permanent injunction to keep the Oxnard agent away from its athletes. The school also is seeking unspecified damages against Caron for his alleged actions that have resulted in suspensions of three Trojan football players.

“USC always tells its players not to mess with agents,” said Scott Edleman, USC’s attorney. “We’re now telling agents not to mess with our players. We’ve got to go after the agents. We’ve got to blow a lid on their practices, and we’ve got to say this will not be tolerated anymore.”

The suit, believed to be unprecedented in intercollegiate athletics, could affect how agents recruit players in California and become the cornerstone of agent regulation.

Russ Sauer, Caron’s attorney, argued that agents are not bound by NCAA rules and therefore cannot be held accountable by those guidelines.

“From a legal perspective, should the court be interceding in an area where they don’t have jurisdiction?” he asked.

But as a practical matter, Sauer said Caron “had no intention of conducting any activity which would impair the eligibility of any of the USC student-athletes.”

The legal issues will be addressed at an Oct. 27 preliminary hearing.

“Our position is that [it’s] got to stop,” Edleman said. “No one has ever taken the agents on on this theory, and that was what this lawsuit was about.”

Caron, a personal injury and criminal lawyer, allegedly gave three USC starters airline tickets, pocket money, pagers and other items in efforts to represent them when they turned professional. The three--running back Shawn Walters, defensive lineman Israel Ifeanyi and linebacker Errick Herrin--were suspended from the team Sept. 28. The school is conducting an internal investigation before asking the NCAA to restore the players’ eligibility.

Under NCAA rules, a college athlete can lose eligibility if found to have accepted cash or other favors from a sports agent.

Caron would not comment on the suit but has said he did nothing wrong. He has said he did not pay athletes until their college eligibility expired.