Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
The plot continues to thicken in the latest chapter of Johnny Manziel‘s crazy offseason. Lawyers have already been involved in the Manziel-autograph scandal for a couple weeks, but now it appears some new people could be the target of a lawsuit. According to a Texas law, Texas A&M would be allowed to sue the brokers that allegedly paid the Heisman trophy winner for his autograph.
Texas attorney Christian Dennie explained that, “to be liable, the person must have known or reasonably should have known a rule was violated and the violation must lead to disciplinary action against the student or institution.”
In theory, the University would be able to go after the dealers that paid their quarterback for such things as: lost television revenues, loss of ticket sales and attorney’s fees.
All of this is hypothetical, but also not that far-fetched. A&M, along with the NCAA, wants Manziel on the field for the start of the season. So far there’s a ton of circumstantial evidence against him, but nothing damning to the point of putting his season in jeopardy.
There were reports I saw online Thursday stating that one of the brokers was getting tired of covering for Manziel and it implied that lid could blow off this whole thing at any moment. But that all could change with this latest news about Texas law. If the brokers involved know they could get sued, they’re probably going to start pleading the fifth from here on out.
So as it looks right now, this random Texas law is helping out the Aggies big time. Worst case scenario, they’re still going to get paid.
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