A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that former USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny can put off giving a deposition in a sexual abuse lawsuit until after he attends social functions at the Indianapolis 500 later this month.

Judge Susan Bryant-Deason ruled that Penny will be deposed June 5, weeks later than attorneys for a former U.S. women’s national team gymnast had requested.

The ruling was a setback to the ex-gymnast, who alleges she was sexually abused through most of her time on Team USA, and her attorneys, who argued in court papers “attending parties at the Indy 500 Race week is not an adequate excuse to delay the taking of (Penny’s) deposition.”

The deposition is related to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against Lawrence Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics women’s national team physician; USA Gymnastics, the sport’s Indianapolis-based national governing body; Penny as well as other former USA Gymnastics executives; former U.S. national team coaches Bela and Martha Karolyi; and the Los Angeles-based All Olympia Gymnastics Center.

The suit alleges that the gymnast, a U.S. national team member from 2006-11 and Los Angeles resident, suffered “childhood sexual abuse” at the hands of Nassar for several years while competing for Team USA. The suit also alleges that Penny “oversaw a wide-ranging, calculated concealment of numerous instances, complaints, and allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct among the participants and members of USA Gymnastics.” Penny’s “actions and inactions enabled and ratified the sexual abuse” by Nassar, the suit alleges.

The suit also alleges that on June 17, 2015, Rhonda Faehn, USA Gymnastics women’s program director, informed Penny of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar but Penny did not report the allegations to law enforcement until five weeks later.

Penny resigned as USA Gymnastics president and CEO in March, days after the U.S. Olympic Committee’s board of directors called for his ouster.

Penny, a resident of Indiana, has asked the Los Angeles court to dismiss the case, saying California does not have personal jurisdiction over him. Attorneys for the former gymnast have until June 30 to file opposition to Penny’s motion and said a May deposition was vital to their meeting the June deadline.

Penny declined to testify at a Senate hearing in March on sexual abuse within USA Gymnastics. USA Gymnastics officials, including chairman Paul Parilla, an Orange County attorney, were also invited to testify at the hearing but declined, citing ongoing lawsuits against the Indianapolis-based national governing body. Parilla family members posted photos from a Mexican resort on social media the week of the hearing. When asked by the Orange County Register if Parilla was vacationing in Mexico on the day of the hearing, a USA Gymnastics spokesperson released a statement that read “USA Gymnastics did not send a representative due to pending litigation. Mr. Parilla was traveling, but that did not impact our decision regarding today’s hearing.”

Attorneys for the former gymnast proposed five dates in May for Penny’s deposition, according to documents obtained by the Register. Penny’s attorney’s countered with a date that conflicted with another deposition and then said Penny would be available on June 5 because he wanted to attend events related to the Indianapolis 500.

“Steve Penny is no longer employed,” Daniel White, Penny’s attorney, wrote in a May 3 email to Vince Finaldi, an Irvine-based attorney representing the former gymnast. “Because of his former position, he has many contacts who will be attending Race Week. He intends to participate in as many pre-race function as possible in an effort to connect with those who may be of some assistance in his re-employment efforts. I can assure you he feels the need to do this is critical to the needs of his family.”

Finaldi responded a few minutes later via email.

“I hope you can step back for a second, evaluate, and see how ludicrous your client’s position is,” Finaldi wrote to White. “We have motions to oppose and he can’t participate in discovery because he has parties to attend. That is just beyond the pale. Especially considering how many children were sexually abused on his watch. It just supports our position that he never really did care much about the kids. It was all about his job and the bottom line.”

Later that evening, Finaldi wrote in another email to White, “exactly how many parties is he going to be attending? It’s just inconceivable to me that he is unavailable at all until June 5 because of these soirees. And those events do not justify avoidance of a deposition.”

In an email to the Register, another of Penny’s attorney, Edith R. Matthai, said Penny did not “put off” his deposition.

“Mr. Penny agreed to appear one of the dates suggested by plaintiff’s counsel,” Matthai wrote. “Plaintiff’s counsel then filed a motion making defamatory statements about Mr. Penny in an attempt to have the deposition take place at an earlier date. That motion was denied by the court. Yet, the motion served the plaintiff’s counsel’s goal to obtain negative publicity about Mr. Penny and USA Gymnastics.”

Penny’s attorneys maintain the suit cannot proceed in California because of a lack jurisdictional basis. The former gymnast attorneys point out that USA Gymnastics has held a series of major events in California over the past two decades, including the 2004 Olympic Trials in Anaheim and the 2016 Olympic Trials in San Jose. The 2017 U.S. championships will be held at Honda Center in August.

USA Gymnastics also sanctions dozens if not hundreds of smaller events in the state each year and there are numerous USA Gymnastics member clubs and gyms in California. Penny’s attorneys said in court documents that those clubs and gyms “are each separate, independent entities.”