Jaden Rashada's lawsuit against Billy Napier, Florida booster will move to discovery

Judge M. Casey Rodgers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled Tuesday that the majority of Jaden Rashada’s lawsuit against Florida head coach Billy Napier, former Florida director of NIL and player engagement Marcus Castro-Walker and well-known UF booster Hugh Hathcock to move to discovery.

Rodgers ruled that Rashada’s tortious interference claims are dismissed, while his fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, conspiracy to commit fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims survive to discovery and go toward trial. Napier, Castro-Walker, Hathcock and Hathcock’s former company, Velocity Automotive, had all filed motions to dismiss in recent months.

Counts on tortious interference and a count on conspiracy that the defendants schemed to boycott Rashada were dismissed. But the brunt of the case moves forward – an unprecedented move in the NIL era.

Rashada filed the lawsuit last May. At the heart of the suit is a four-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 out millions of dollars.

“Hathcock allegedly boasted to Castro-Walker, within earshot of Rashada and his family, that he would deliver whatever NIL compensation package was needed to secure Rashada’s commitment to UF,” Rodgers wrote in her ruling. “And while Hathcock and Castro-Walker were in the thick of the initial negotiations with Rashada’s agents, Hathcock allegedly said that he ‘just listen[ed] to’ whatever Napier and Castro-Walker told him to do.

“Napier’s putative actions, in concert with the surrounding circumstances alleged in the Amended Complaint, at the very least created a plausible appearance that Castro-Walker and Hathcock were acting as Rashada’s apparent agents during his recruitment to UF.”

Rodgers also found that Rashada sufficiently pled a fraud claim under Florida law, supporting his allegations with “extensive prediscovery evidence to ostensibly support his factual allegations.”

The court left open the chance that Castro-Walker and Napier could be dismissed under sovereign immunity, but based on Florida law, “[t]hose arguments will have to wait for another day.”

After being released from his National Letter of Intent at Florida, Jaden Rashada transferred to Arizona State. Last spring, he transferred to Georgia, and this past winter decided to re-enter the transfer portal. To this point, the quarterback has yet to find a new home.