Trial date set in Todd McNair’s lawsuit against NCAA

Almost six years after Todd McNair sued the NCAA for defamation, the former USC assistant football coach’s lawsuit is finally moving toward trial.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller scheduled the trial to start April 18, 2018, in a case-management order issued earlier this month.

The long-running lawsuit stems from sanctions the NCAA imposed on McNair and USC after the NCAA’s extra-benefits investigation centered on Trojans running back Reggie Bush. But the case remains in the early stages because of repeated detours to California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal.

After Shaller rejected the NCAA’s motion to dismiss the case in 2012, the organization appealed. The judge had ruled that emails members of the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions exchanged about the USC matter “tend to show ill will or hatred” and labeled the conduct of people involved in the investigation as “malicious.”

The appeal started a three-year odyssey — including a successful fight by news organizations to unseal hundreds of pages of internal NCAA emails and other documents concerning McNair and USC — which ended in 2015 when a three-judge panel upheld Shaller’s original ruling with emphatic language.

The case appeared set to resume last year, but the NCAA moved to disqualify Shaller, a USC graduate, because “the public perceives potential judicial bias.” The court granted the request, but McNair’s attorneys asked the Court of Appeal to review the decision.

The appellate court paused the case and eventually overturned Shaller’s removal in December.

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Twitter: @nathanfenno