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A federal judge has denied an HBCU student-athlete’s motion to intervene in a lawsuit that alleges the NCAA’s formula to measure a team’s academic performance is discriminatory.
Brenda McKinney sought to be appointed as the class representative of the injunctive relief class proposed by plaintiff Troyce Manassa, a former student-athlete at Savannah State University in Georgia.
McKinney is a basketball player at Grambling State University in Louisiana and filed her own federal lawsuit in August that also challenges the NCAA’s Academic Performance Program.
Both lawsuits are in the Indiana Southern District Court, Indianapolis Division.
McKinney argued she should be allowed to intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a).
Magistrate Mark Dinsmore disagreed, ruling McKinney didn’t establish that her interests would be impaired or impeded by the denial of the motion.
Rule 24(a)(2) requires the court to permit a person to intervene when the person claims an interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action; the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the person’s ability to protect their interest; and the person’s interest is not adequately protected by the existing parties to the action.
“McKinney argues that she faces impairment of her claims through stare decisis or as a putative class member,” the order says. “However, even if the pending motion for class certification is denied, McKinney would not be precluded from seeking redress in her own, currently pending action, in which she alleges the same claims as Manassa.”
In the alternative, McKinney argued she should be granted leave to intervene through permissive intervention pursuant to Rule 24(b), which gives the court discretion to permit a person to intervene when the person has a claim or defense that shares a common question of law or fact with the main action and the intervention would not unduly delay or prejudice the adjudication of the original parties’ rights.
But Dinsmore ruled denial is appropriate because the motion is “significantly untimely.”
“While McKinney and Manassa may share common questions of law or fact, McKinney brings this motion over 21 months past the deadline to add a new plaintiff to this case, and four months after the close of discovery,” the order says.
It would also create a burden for the NCAA, the order says, because it has waited years for a ruling on the motion for class certification.
The lawsuit — Troyce Manassa v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1:20-cv-03172 — was filed in December 2020.
Two plaintiffs were previously dismissed — one in 2022 by stipulation of the parties and another in 2021 for lack of standing.
Manassa has requested certification of two classes: an injunctive relief class and a liability class.
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