By Kevin Zwick
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
The NCAA is backing off legal challenges to a state law controlling the $60 million fine imposed on Penn State University for the school’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse crimes.
In a motion filed Friday, the NCAA asked a Commonwealth Court judge to allow the organization to withdraw statements made in a previous filing that led a judge to question the validity of the Consent Decree, which laid out the terms and conditions of the fine and other sanctions against Penn State.
The ongoing state litigation regarding the Consent Decree would end if the court allows the NCAA to retract the statements. The NCAA also says, if the motion is approved, it will take “necessary and appropriate actions to dismiss” federal litigation over the Endowment Act, the state law that places the Pennsylvania Treasury in control of the endowment fund that would receive the fine money.
The NCAA, which challenged the law’s constitutionality, also conceded that Penn State would be in compliance with the Consent Decree if it pays the sum to the state Treasury.
Lawyers for Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman, R-Centre, and State Treasurer Rob McCord, who sued the NCAA last year over control of the $60 million fine, said in a response “it was appropriate and in the public interest for the Court to question the Consent Decree.”
While they still feel the Consent Decree was “invalid,” they acknowledged the NCAA has the right to amend its prior filings.
Penn State, which was added as a defendant to the legal proceedings over the Consent Decree, agrees with the NCAA’s position and plans to pay the full $60 million fine to the state Treasury, according to the motion filed by NCAA’s lawyer.
Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey has not yet issued a decision with regard to the motion.
The NCAA initially wanted to use the funds for nationwide child sexual abuse awareness and prevention programs. Corman and McCord sued the NCAA last year to keep the fine money in Pennsylvania, and the Legislature in turn passed the Endowment Act. In April, Covey dismissed the NCAA’s argument the act is unconstitutional.
In the same opinion, Covey said the NCAA made assertions about the Consent Decree that needed further review by the court, so the lawsuit then became a vehicle to challenge the Consent Decree. She highlighted a key phrase from the decree, where the NCAA admitted the Sandusky matter, “while despicable, would ordinarily would not be actionable by the NCAA.”
Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, is serving a lengthy prison term after being convicted on dozens of child sexual abuse charges. The NCAA, relying on a report from former FBI Director Louis Freeh, found “an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity” at Penn State that allowed Sandusky to prey on children for years.
After Sandusky was convicted, the NCAA issued the Consent Decree, which the university agreed to, imposing the $60 million fine, a four-year ban on post-season football team play, a reduction in the football program’s athletic scholarships, and an elimination of over a dozen years-worth of victories under the late former football coach Joe Paterno.
When Covey called for a trial about the Consent Decree, Corman and McCord’s lawyers planned to aggressively seek evidence about the process of determining the terms of the Consent Decree from the NCAA and Penn State, which could have opened up the two closed-off institutions’ internal workings to a public display. Corman and McCord reaffirmed their opposition to the Consent Decree in their filing Friday.
“Senator Jake Corman and Treasurer Robert McCord have contended and do contend that the Consent Decree is invalid and should be stricken because, among other reasons, the NCAA lacked authority to impose fines, it did not follow its own bylaws, and the Decree is a contract of adhesion entered into under duress. Senator Corman and Treasurer McCord are particularly troubled by the accuracy and completeness underpinning the findings contained in the Consent Decree.
“Accordingly, Senator Corman and Treasurer McCord continue to believe that declaring the Consent Decree invalid would be beneficial to the Commonwealth, to the Penn State community, and to the current students and staff of the University,” according to their filing.
A majority of the Penn State Board of Trustees last month adopted a resolution that favored “full compliance” with the terms of the Consent Decree. A minority faction sought to rescind further the university’s obligation.
The board took the vote as lawyers for Corman and McCord, the NCAA and Penn State entered settlement talks. However, those discussions dissolved recently.
The actions come in a ramp up to the release of the second-annual “Mitchell Report,” authored by Independent Athletics Integrity Monitor George Mitchell, expected to occur this week.
NEWSLANC EDITOR: The NCCA knows that their actions were unwarranted due both to the circumstances and the limitations of its constitution and by-laws. They are scared of any judicial review.
