Todd McNair attorneys say NCAA can’t ‘cherry pick’ documents

The legal sparring between the NCAA and Todd McNair continued in a motion filed Wednesday by attorneys for the former USC running backs coach.

The dispute revolves around approximately 200 pages of emails, depositions excerpts and other material that the NCAA didn’t publicly file after California’s 2nd Court of Appeal ruled that it couldn’t seal documents in the case.

“Nowhere in its opinion did this Court give the NCAA permission to cherry pick just those portions of the trial record it believed should be made public,” the motion said.

Last month, the NCAA publicly filed about 500 pages of documents -- including emails from members of the Committee on Infractions that sanctioned USC and McNair in the Reggie Bush extra-benefits scandal. Those documents drew the ire of USC and Pac-12 Conference Commissioner Larry Scott.

McNair’s attorneys, suing the NCAA for defamation, then asked the court to dismiss the organization’s appeal because of the missing documents. The NCAA said that the move is an attempt to “circumvent the appellate process” so that McNair can “avoid scrutiny of his claims.”

The motion Wednesday came in response to the NCAA’s opposition to dismissing the appeal, something McNair’s attorneys called “confounding and meritless.”

The motion also chided the NCAA for redactions on some of the publicly filed documents. The organization said it did so to protect student-athlete privacy.

“That was one of the arguments the NCAA made in support of its unsuccessful motion to seal in the first place,” the motion said.

McNair’s attorneys called the redactions “troubling” and said they were “tantamount to a misrepresentation to this Court.”