National Football League

New judge to handle Kiffin case

Published Jan. 23, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Tennessee Titans’ lawsuit against the University of Southern California and its football coach Lane Kiffin has been handed to a third judge after the first two stepped down citing impartiality concerns, The Tennessean reported Monday.

Senior Judge John T. Nixon will now oversee the case involving alleged interference and inducement of breach of contract after the two previously assigned judges feared connections to the involved parties might infer bias.

The NFL franchise filed the lawsuit in July after Kiffin hired former Titans running back coach Kennedy Pola to join his staff at USC.

The first judge on the case, Todd J. Campbell, stepped down on Aug. 2 because one of his children was applying to attend USC at the time the case was handed to him.

"I was literally standing on the campus when I received notification on my BlackBerry that the case had been assigned to me,” Campbell said. “I thought that my impartiality could be reasonably questioned."

The case was then handed to Judge Aleta A. Trauger, who recused herself because her husband was intimately involved in the negotiations that brought the Titans to Tennessee in 1997.

“He doesn't represent them in any official capacity," Trauger said, but added that she and her husband have been guests in owner Bud Adams' box for games.

A trial date has been scheduled for Aug. 2, according to The Tennessean.

Kiffin, 35, was named the successor to Phillip Fulmer at the University of Tennessee in 2008 and ruffled feathers when he abruptly left the position to take the job at USC after just one season.