Paterno estate subpoenas more information

The estate of longtime Nittany Lion football coach Joe Paterno is asking for more documents from Penn State.

In documents filed Monday in Centre County court, the family filed a certificate prerequisite to service of a subpoena against the university.

The family is requesting documents related to licensure or use of Paterno’s image or name, including how much money was collected by using the late coach’s likeness.

Also requested is information about donations in Paterno’s honor, funds and endowments established in his honor, and donations in his memory after his January 2012 death.

The estate is suing the NCAA, President Mark Emmert and former chairman of the executive committee Ed Ray for myriad allegations about the treatment of Paterno, who was fired by Penn State after Jerry Sandusky’s November 2011 arrest for child sex abuse charges. Paterno died of lung cancer two months later.

Penn State had been a defendant in the suit, too, but was removed in that capacity over the summer, according to university attorneys.

This is the most recent discovery move in the case, which has included plenty of requests, plus protests on both sides.

Last month, Potter County Senior Judge John Leete gave a little to both the Paternos and the NCAA. He agreed with the estate that Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton, Sandusky investigator Louis Freeh’s group, should review and reclassify some of the 70,000 documents turned over after months of protest, all marked as “attorneys eyes only.”

Leete also sided with the NCAA on some issues, agreeing that some things, like documents related to Jay Paterno’s brief lieutenant governor candidacy, plus social media and text messages, should be discoverable.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Paterno estate subpoenas more information."