Judge postpones arguments over NCAA's motion to dismiss Corbett's antitrust suit

The judge overseeing the commonwealth’s case against the NCAA over the sanctions

levied on Penn State University in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal has postponed oral arguments addressing the defendant’s request to dismiss the case.

Chief U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane, of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, docketed an order April 29 that says the hearing originally scheduled for May 1 would be pushed back to May 20.

The reason for the postponement was a scheduling conflict presented with the funeral arrangements for the late Gary Lancaster, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who passed away recently due to a heart ailment.

Oral arguments in the NCAA’s motion to dismiss will now take place on Monday, May 20 at 2 p.m. in Kane’s Harrisburg courtroom.

In January, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett filed suit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over the sanctions imposed on Penn State following the conviction of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Corbett maintains that the sanctions, which included a $60 million fine, violate federal antitrust laws.

The NCAA disputes that notion, and filed a motion to dismiss the case back in early February.

Later that month, James D. Schultz, a lawyer for the Corbett administration, filed his own motion in opposition of the NCAA’s motion to dismiss.

The athletic association’s attorneys maintain that the sanctions have nothing to do with antitrust laws, which deal with anti-competitiveness.

The NCAA also points out that the sanctions arose out of a consent decree between itself and Penn State, which had been approved by the university’s governing board, of which Corbett himself is a member.

Sandusky was the longtime defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions football team.

He went on trial in Centre County last summer on charges that he sexually molested a number of youngsters throughout the years.
In the end, a jury found Sandusky guilty on 45 counts of child sex-abuse.

A state judge sentenced Sandusky to between 30 and 60 years in state prison.

Sandusky’s lawyers are appealing the sentence.