Federal judge rules on Mark Dantonio's deposition requests

It looks like a federal judge has passed down a ruling on Mark Dantonio’s specific requests pertaining to his deposition for the Curtis Blackwell lawsuit.

It has been a bit of a back-and-forth between the two camps over the past couple weeks, but at least Dantonio’s deposition is now cleared up. According to Tony Paul with the Detroit News, a federal judge granted some of Dantonio’s requests but not all of them.

First, the judge ruled that Dantonio is allowed to wait until after the season is concluded to undergo his deposition. That means the earliest Dantonio can be deposed is likely in January.

While the judge did grant that request by Dantonio, the judge did not allow his requests for a time limitation or for the scope of questioning to be limited. Based on the ruling, Dantonio must be available for up to seven hours and with questioning open to topics such as the recruitment of Auston Robertson and the Larry Nassar scandal at MSU.

From Paul’s Detroit News article:

A federal judge in West Michigan ruled that the Michigan State head football coach can wait until after the season ends to be deposed by attorneys for a former staff member who’s suing over wrongful termination.

But Dantonio also lost his bid to limit the length and scope of the deposition, the judge saying he must sit for seven hours and can be asked any questions.

The same article also shed some light on the reasons behind the request to depose Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. According to Paul, Harbaugh was interested in hiring Blackwell away from Michigan State before the Spartans countered with a raise:

Blackwell’s lawyers also have requested to depose Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who showed some interest in hiring Blackwell, the co-founder of the Sound Mind Sound Body football camps, away from rival Michigan State. That led to a big raise at Michigan State for Blackwell, who was making $129,000 when he was let go.

For now, it is likely more wait and see on this story with Dantonio’s deposition now set for sometime after the season.