Next Tuesday we are due in court for a hearing in my lawsuit against the Penn State Board of Trustees. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:oo p.m. before Judge Marshall in the Centre County Courthouse Annex, 102 S. Allegheny Street, Bellefonte. (Click here for directions)

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll consider attending. Court proceedings are open to the public and you’re welcome to observe. There is metered street parking and several municipal lots nearby -please do not park along streets with red-lined curbs. Be prepared to pass through courthouse security.

As many of you know, we have subpoenaed Trustees Anthony Lubrano and Jay Paterno, as well as Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft, to testify. On June 10th, Penn State filed a Motion to Quash those subpoenas (PDF, 52 pages), and on June 16th our attorney, Steve Marino, filed our response (PDF, 32 pages — read Part 1 and Part 2 here). As of this morning, the court has not yet ruled on the motion. Regardless of that ruling, the hearing on Tuesday is expected to proceed.

The primary focus of the hearing will be our Petition for Sanctions, filed on January 29. The petition asks the court to award sanctions based on allegations that Penn State’s conduct during the litigation was “vexatious, obdurate, and/or dilatory” under Pennsylvania law (42 Pa.C.S. § 2503).

Among other things, the petition alleges that:

• Penn State knew all trustees were entitled to receive the information at issue.
• Penn State knew the Elevate agreement was relevant to the litigation.
• Penn State knew its confidentiality arguments lacked merit.
• Despite that, Penn State continued to advance those positions throughout the case.

The court will determine whether those allegations are supported by the evidence and whether sanctions are appropriate.