Jaden Rashada lawsuit against Billy Napier, others to move to discovery

Jaden Rashada’s lawsuit against Florida head coach Billy Napier and others regarding misrepresentation/inducement will move to discovery and go toward trial, a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Tuesday.

Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the Northern District of Florida ruled that the majority of Rashada’s lawsuit against Napier, former Florida director of NIL and player engagement Marcus Castro-Walker and UF booster Hugh Hathcock will move to discovery.

Rodgers’ ruling also included that Rashada, who played quarterback at Arizona State in 2023 and Georgia in 2024, will have his tortious interference claims dismissed. However, Rodgers also ruled that his fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, conspiracy to commit fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims will survive to discovery and go toward trial.

Napier, Castro-Walker, Hathcock and Hathcock’s former company, Velocity Automotive, had all filed motions to dismiss the case in recent months.

The counts regarding tortious interference and a count on conspiracy that the defendants schemed to boycott Rashada were also dismissed. But the majority of Rashada’s case will move forward, an unprecedented course of action in the NIL era.

Rashada filed the lawsuit last May, almost a year ago now. At the center of the lawsuit is a 4-year, $13.85 million contract that played a crucial role in Rashada flipping his commitment from Miami to Florida in November 2022. According to court documents, the Gators allegedly reneged on the unprecedented NIL collective agreement, leaving the quarterback without a school and leaving him out of millions of dollars.

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.