As mentioned earlier,
Here a suit, there a suit, everywhere a law suit. And now this: the Paterno family, certain members of the BoT and faculty, and a number of former players, are filing suit collectively against the NCAA, and individually against Mark Emmert and Edward Ray, [former] Chairman of the NCAA Executive Committee.
The
Complaint.
There are 6 total counts:
COUNT I: BREACH OF CONTRACT (The Estate and Family of Joe Paterno on behalf of Joe Paterno, and Al Clemens)
COUNT II: BREACH OF CONTRACT (William Kenney, Jay Paterno, Ryan McCombie, Anthony Lubrano, Peter Khoury, Adam Taliaferro, Anthony Adams, Gerald Cadogan, Shamar Finney, Justin Kurpeikis, Richard Gardner, Josh Gaines, Patrick Mauti, Anwar Phillips, and Michael Robinson)
COUNT III: INTENTIONAL INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS (William Kenney and Jay Paterno)
COUNT IV: INJURIOUS FALSEHOOD/COMMERCIAL DISPARAGEMENT (The Estate and Family of Joe Paterno on behalf of Joe Paterno)
COUNT V: DEFAMATION (All Plaintiffs Except the Estate and Family of Joe Paterno on behalf of Joe Paterno)
COUNT VI: CIVIL CONSPIRACY (All Plaintiffs)
Count I, the most significant, In pertinent part, claims:
"Defendant NCAA materially breached its contractual obligations and violated the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by, among other things:
a. purporting to exercise jurisdiction over a matter not caused by the football program, much less one related to a basic athletics issue such as admissions, financial aid,
eligibility, and recruiting;
b. taking action and imposing sanctions via its Executive Committee, which has power only to address association-wide issues on a prospective basis, and therefore no power to sanction individual members;
c. refusing to proceed against Penn State through the traditional enforcement process, the only method of imposing sanctions that is authorized under the rules;
d. refusing to accept any appeals of the Consent Decree;
e. treating the Freeh Report as a “self-report” even though the Freeh Report was never voted on by the full Board of Trustees; even though the Freeh Report failed to
identify, much less analyze, any purported NCAA rules violations; and even though the Freeh Report failed to comply with required procedures and reached conclusions based on irrelevant or inadmissible evidence developed pursuant to an unreliable and deficient investigation;
f. imposing sanctions on the basis of alleged violations of vague, inapplicable principles in the NCAA’s Constitution, such as the principle of institutional control and the principle of ethical conduct, both of which relate only to athletics issues or other matters regulated by the NCAA;
g. imposing sanctions that are available only in cases of “major” violations without explaining why the conduct identified in the Consent Decree constituted a “major”
violation intended to provide the institution with an extensive recruiting or competitive advantage;
h. imposing the penalty of vacation of wins even though no ineligible student athlete was found to have competed during the years affected;
i. threatening to impose the “death penalty” on Penn State football when it had no authority to do so because Penn State is not and never has been a repeat offender;
j. failing to conduct its own investigation or explain its own investigative procedures, and relying instead on the flawed Freeh Report, a procedurally and substantively
inadequate substitute for the NCAA’s investigation and compliance with required procedures;
k. failing to recognize that Plaintiffs, who are named or referred to in the Consent Decree, are “involved individuals” under the NCAA’s own rules; and
l. failing to afford Plaintiffs “fair procedures” during the NCAA’s determinations and deliberations."
EDIT: To innumerate the 6 total counts.
