Spanier Doubles Down on Adding PSU to Defamation Lawsuit

As Graham Spanier’s defamation lawsuit hurtles towards an Oct. 28 hearing, the former Penn State president is doubling down on his attempts to have his former employer added to the lawsuit.

Spanier is suing former FBI director Louis Freeh and his law firm for allegedly defaming him in the Penn State-commissioned Freeh Report released in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. But Spanier also wants the court to add Penn State as a defendant, claiming that Penn State was directly involved with many of the actions that form the basis of his lawsuit.

Spanier’s argument isn’t exactly new, having proposed this same idea to the court back in March. But Penn State has since responded to his proposal, arguing that certain facts of the case and legal nuances prevent Spanier from adding the university to suit against Freeh.

Penn State reportedly argues in a letter to the court that Spanier’s claims against the university are based in a contractual non-disparagement agreement, which differs substantially from the disparagement allegations made against Freeh and should not be added to the lawsuit.

“However, these arguments do not really speak to the standard for joinder of defendants in Pennsylvania,” Spanier’s attorneys argue in a new court filing. “…At bottoms, PSU’s letter opposing the joinder fails to offer any meaningful reason why joinder is not entirely appropriate here.”

Spanier argues that his claims against both Freeh and Penn State “indisputably arise out of the same series of occurrences,” leading to overlap between the facts and legal elements of both claims.

Spanier also argues that Freeh himself inadvertently argued for adding Penn State to the case.

When Freeh successfully argued that Centre County Judge Jonathan Grine should remove himself from the case to allow an out-of-county judge to step in, Freeh’s attorneys argued “the claims and defenses in this case will implicate…the conduct and findings of the Special Investigating Task Force commissioned by Penn State” to look into the Sandusky scandal. 

Spanier is suing Freeh because the Freeh Report alleges he and other Penn State administrators covered up knowledge of Sandusky’s crimes from the university community and general public. Spanier, alongside two other former Penn State leaders, faces charges of perjury and conspiracy in Dauphin County court for his role in this alleged coverup, but no trial date has been set.