A U.S. District Court judge in Pensacola denied motions to dismiss all counts of a lawsuit against Florida football coach Billy Napier, former Florida Gators football staff member Marcus Castro-Walker and booster Hugh Hathcock filed by former Arizona State and Georgia quarterback Jaden Rashada.
Rashada filed the suit against Napier, Hathcock and Castro-Walker in May of 2024, claiming he was defrauded in being enticed to sign with UF over promises of the $13.8 million NIL deal being carried out. It also lists Hathcock’s company, Velocity Automotive, as a defendant. Rashada, a five-star quarterback recruit from Pittsburg, Calif., signed with UF in December of 2022 but was granted release from the National Letter of Intent a month later and moved on to Arizona State.
In the 40-page ruling, U.S. District Court judge M. Casey Rodgers dismissed counts of tortious interference and one count of civil conspiracy, but considered Rashada’s claims of fraud and vicarious liability as valid.
“The surrounding circumstances alleged in the amended complaint readily allow for the inference that each defendant had actual knowledge of the putative fraud,” Rodgers wrote in his ruling.
