Jaden Rashada Lawsuit with Gators Progresses Towards Trial

Certain claims held up during the motion to dismiss in the district court

The saga between Rashada and the Gators continues | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

While the University of Florida celebrated a national championship Tuesday, Jaden Rashada’s lawsuit against Hugh Hathcock, Marcus Castro-Walker, Velocity Automotive Solutions and Gators football head coach William Napier moved one step closer to trial.

On April 8, The United States District Court for The Northern District of Florida came to a decision on the UF defendants’ motion to dismiss: A split decision in which some claims were dismissed yet a majority of the lawsuit survived into the discovery phase.

This means that while some of Rashada’s claims were not seen as legally valid, many were decided acceptable to be sent into the final phase before a trial is held.

History of the claims

Rashada’s claim came after a failed recruitment effort by the Gators between 2022 and 2023. He alleged that the group of Hathcock, Castro-Walker, Velocity Automotive Solutions and Napier engaged in a fraudulent scheme to secure his commitment to play football at the University of Florida and deny its rivals of his athletic talents.

In the suit, Rashada claims the prominent booster Hathcock told Castro-Walker during a meeting with him and his family that ‘whatever (Rashada) needed to come to UF from an NIL standpoint, he would make happen’. He also claims Hathcock first offered him approximately $11 million later that summer in a ‘UF-affiliated NIL deal’, before upping the offer to $13.85 million in November 2022.

Rashada then claimed that once he had agreed and signed a contract with the Gators collective Gator Guard, Hathcock’s collective, he did not receive certain guarantees up until signing day. On that day, he claims Castro-Walker and Napier assured him the deal would ‘get done’ and urged him to sign his letter of intent, going on to even say Castro-Walker threatened that if he did not sign quickly, “Napier might pull back his scholarship offer.”

By January 2023, Rashada claimed promises were still not met despite Castro-Walker providing assurances that they would ‘receive all promised payments going further’ earlier in the month, leading him to withdraw his letter of intent on Jan. 18, 2023.

Rashada filed the action on May 21, 2024. The complaint contains eight counts: fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement (Count I); aiding and abetting fraud (Count II); conspiracy to commit fraud (Count III); the independent tort of conspiracy (Count IV); negligent misrepresentation (Count V); tortious interference (Count VI); aiding and abetting tortious interference (Count VII); and, solely against Velocity, vicarious liability for acts taken by Hathcock (Count VIII).

Court’s Decision

To conclude the district court's decision, only Rashada’s claims of the independent tort of conspiracy (Count IV), tortious interference (Count VI) and aiding and abetting tortious interference (Count VII) were seen as not legally valid and dismissed. The claim of vicarious liability for acts taken by Hathcock (Count VIII), solely against Velocity, was also thrown out due to its connection to the other counts.

All other claims were seen as legally valid and will now be sent into the discovery phase, the formal process of exchanging information between the parties about the witnesses and evidence they will present at trial.

In the court’s opinion, Rashada sufficiently pleaded four counts: Fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent inducement (Count I); aiding and abetting fraud (Count II); conspiracy to commit fraud (Count III); negligent misrepresentation (Count V).

The entire decision, along with explanations for how the court came to such a decision can be found here. As well, here is a thread breaking down the hearing.

We have a decision on the UF defendants' (Hugh Hathcock, Billy Napier, Marcus Castro-Walker, and Velocity Automotive Services) motions to dismiss Jaden Rashada's lawsuit. It's a split decision -- some of his claims have been dismissed but the bulk of his lawsuit survives to… pic.twitter.com/uIlYykOjAi

— Sam C. Ehrlich (@samcehrlich) April 9, 2025

With a court appearance seeming more likely, the case will surely have a huge impact on not only the Florida program but the entire nation. With its NIL connections, be on the lookout for what may be a monumental trial that will shape the future landscape of college athletics.