An appellate court has overturned the NCAA’s attempt to change judges in former USC assistant football coach Todd McNair’s defamation lawsuit against the organization.

In an 11-page opinion issued Friday, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal said the trial court erred in accepting the NCAA’s challenge earlier this year to Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller’s continued participation in the case.

“And, according to the NCAA, this case has been assigned to eight judges in five years, and so another reassignment will only further delay trial while a new jurist becomes familiar with the case,” the opinion said.

McNair sued the NCAA in 2011 after it sanctioned him and USC following the extra-benefits investigation that centered on former Trojans running back Reggie Bush.


The NCAA moved to disqualify Shaller in May, citing the perception of “potential judicial bias” because the judge graduated from USC. The organization included message board postings about the case in court filings.

McNair’s attorneys asked the appellate court to review the matter in June, saying the NCAA couldn’t ask for a new judge because it disqualified a previous judge in the case.

While each side is allowed one challenge to remove a judge, it can receive another challenge if a final judgement is reversed on appeal.

The dispute is connected to the case’s three-year journey through the same appellate court after Shaller’s rejected the NCAA’s motion to dismiss the case in 2012. The court upheld Shaller’s decision last December, but rejected McNair’s claim that the NCAA sanctions kept USC from renewing his contract.


The NCAA argued that the reversal allowed another challenge. The appellate court disagreed and said the decision last December didn’t constitute a final judgement in the case.

“The statute is clear and unambiguous and McNair is correct,” the opinion said.

The case in L.A. Superior Court has been paused pending the appellate court’s decision.

nathan.fenno@latimes.com


Twitter: @nathanfenno