Jaden Rashada, a former UF signee and top 50 prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, filed a lawsuit against Florida Head Coach Billy Napier, Gator booster Hugh Hathcock, and former staffer Marcus Castro-Walker for a name, image, and likeness deal gone wrong. The lawsuit claimed Rashada had a 9.5 million dollar offer if he played at Miami. Rashada committed to the Hurricanes, then flipped to the Gators after receiving a name, image and likeness offer of 13.85 million dollars over four years, according to the lawsuit.
According to Rashada’s lawsuit, the highly-touted QB was promised to be given 500,000 thousand dollars for signing with UF and one million dollars from Head Coach Billy Napier. That money never arrived.
On Tuesday afternoon, former Gators staffer Marcus Castro-Walker motioned to dismiss the suit against him in the United States District Court Northern Division.
“The Complaint begins with Marcus Castro-Walker, a University of Florida (“UF”) recruiter, professing his desire to have Jaden Rashada (“Jaden”) play for UF. In paragraph after paragraph, the reader sees factual evidence in text messages and phone conversations confirming that Castro-Walker is making his best effort to persuade Jaden to attend UF. There is simply no questioning the sincerity of Castro-Walker’s dogged pursuit,” the motion states.
Casto-Walker’s attorneys argue that sovereign immunity protects Casto-Walker from the lawsuit because he was doing his job and acting in good faith.
“Because it has not been sufficiently alleged or shown that Castro-Walker acted with actual malice, Castro-Walker may not be held personally liable or named as a party defendant and the action against him must therefore be dismissed,” the motion states.
“Florida law shields governmental agency employees from liability in tort
actions for conduct taken “in the scope of her or his employment. However, those employees have no immunity where they acted “in bad faith or with malicious purpose or in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property.” Id. Thus, courts must dismiss such claims unless the plaintiff makes “a good faith allegation in the complaint” that the public official either acted outside the scope of his employment or “acted in bad faith or with malicious purpose or in a manner exhibiting wanton and willful disregard of human rights, safety, or property.”
The only public comment Billy Napier has made on the lawsuit was that he’s “comfortable” with his actions. The NCAA opened an investigation into Florida’s program back in January.
You can read the entire motion here:https://x.com/halleygator/status/1815832648285139157
Update: Head Coach Billy Napier and big-time donor Hugh Hathcock have also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
This is an ongoing story…