Judge Denies Penn State’s Motion to Stay, McQueary’s Lawsuit to Proceed

Mike McQueary will not have to wait for the conclusion of legal woes of former top Penn State employees to proceed with his $4 million lawsuit after a judge denied the university’s motion on Thursday. 

Judge Thomas Gavin denied Penn State’s motion to stay the former assistant football coach’s whistleblower, defamation and misrepresentation lawsuit in an order signed on Thursday. The judge cited reasons behind his decision in the document, including that were he to grant the stay, McQueary could be put at risk to lack any income or means to support himself, as the severance pay McQueary currently receives from the university will end by January 2014, ‘at the latest,’ according to court documents. 

Gavin also ruled that McQueary has the same right to ‘restore his reputation’ as Penn State officials – Gavin specifically cites the Penn State Board of Trustees – have said the university is working toward.

McQueary sued Penn State in October, citing an irreversible blow to his reputation, an unjustified firing and his inability to land another coaching job. 

The former wideouts coach blames Graham Spanier for defamation, and claims he never received the apology he deserved from the former Penn State president. 

Before a grand jury in 2010 and again at trial in June, McQueary testified that he walked in on Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in the Lasch Football Building locker room shower on the night of Feb. 9, 2001. McQueary maintained that he made sure to make the former defensive coordinator aware that he was in the building by slamming his locker shut before leaving. 

Penn State asked the court to delay the proceedings until the conclusion of legal proceedings against Spanier, former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz. The three former administrators were charged in November as a part of Attorney General Linda Kelly’s ‘conspiracy of silence.’

Their December and January court dates were all canceled and have yet to be rescheduled. 

Sandusky, 68, was sentenced on Oct. 9 to 30-60 years in prison for his sex crimes against children. He was moved to SCI Greene in October, a maximum security prison, where he will serve the duration of his sentence. 

Mcqueary Opinion on Motion to Stay