Case Activity (623)

1. Order | Filed: July 08, 2026 | Entered: July 08, 2026 Doe 1 et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al

   Civil Rights: Education | California Northern

   Document Sealed - NEF Order

   Document sealed., ORDER (Beeler, Laurel) (Filed on 7/8/2026)

2. Order | Filed: July 08, 2026 Doe 1 et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association et al

   Civil Rights: Education | California Northern

   Order

   ORDER granting 467 Motion for Sanctions.

   The attached order addresses the sanctions motion and grants it in part.

   First, the court grants the administrative motion in part: it accepts the Walworth declaration and the notebook in camera, b ut it orders USF to produce the notebook to the plaintiffs' counsel under the protective order within seven days. The Walworth declaration must be filed on the docket, locked for entry to all but court personnel. At that point, the parties can r evisit any sealing issues. Second, the court overrules USF's objection to the reply evidence; no sur-reply is needed. Third, the court does not strike the McDermott declaration, but it gives the declaration no weight where it contradicts unambig uous deposition testimony.

   On the merits, the court denies terminating sanctions and denies the requested adverse-inference instruction and knowledge-preclusion order. On this record, USF negligently failed to collect and review the contemporaneous hard-copy notes of its most important custodian, but there is not bad-faith deception warranting dispositive or verdict-directing sanctions. But the failure was real, and potentially relevant notebooks are gone. The court therefore grants the follow ing relief: (1) the plaintiffs may present evidence at trial of the notebooks' destruction and USF's preservation failures and may argue the inferences that evidence supports; (2) the court will settle any permissive-inference instruction a t the charging conference on the trial record; (3) USF may not argue or suggest to the jury that the absence of contemporaneous notes affirmatively corroborates its claimed lack of knowledge; and (4) the court awards the plaintiffs their reasonable a ttorney's fees for bringing this motion (but not the broader discovery-dispute fees they seek).

   The order has two modest redactions. The court will separately efile an unredacted order under seal and will email a courtesy copy to the parties.

   (Beeler, Laurel) (Filed on 7/8/2026)

3. 621 additional result(s)