Penn State wants the Paterno lawsuit against the NCAA put on hold while it appeals a September ruling in the case.
Penn State, which was added by the courts as an unwilling defendant in the suit in January, has been fighting against releasing a large number of documents related to the Freeh Report and investigation of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
The Paterno estate, along with former Penn State assistant coaches Jay Paterno and William Kenney, sued the NCAA last year for alleged defamation and conspiracy. Since then, the plaintiffs have been fighting an uphill battle for the release of a large number of electronic documents they claim are relevant to their case.
Penn State has argued that these documents – including roughly 3.5 million source documents gathered in the investigation – should be subject to the same level of confidentiality as messages between an attorney and client. One of the foundations for this argument was the fact the Freeh Group, which performed the investigation, had provided legal counsel to Penn State.
The courts ruled against Penn State on September 11, finding that only conversation directly between the Freeh Group and Penn State can be withheld on the basis of attorney-client privilege. The remaining documents will be subject to a search using keywords provided by Paterno and the other plaintiffs. Documents containing these keywords would be released.
Penn State appealed this ruling to the Pennsylvania Superior Court in court documents filed October 8.
On Tuesday, the university joined its attorneys in a request for the Superior Court to pause the Paterno lawsuit against the NCAA while it makes a decision on these disputed documents.
Attorneys for the Paterno estate responded quickly, filing paperwork on Thursday asking the Superior Court to deny Penn State’s request.
“[Penn State’s attorney] has not demonstrated any substantial likelihood that Penn State will prevail on appeal,” Thursday’s filing reads. “…Moreover, granting a stay would harm Plaintiffs by unnecessarily delaying the litigation and would not be in the public interest.”
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