Penn State has asked for a retrial on Mike McQueary’s defamation and misrepresentation case, according to The Associated Press. In October, McQueary was awarded $7.3 million after an eight-day trial for damages he argued he sustained throughout the fallout of the Sandusky scandal.

Penn State appealed the verdict one month later, and is arguing that McQueary’s inability to regain employment was due to the fact that he did not follow up after initially reporting Jerry Sandusky’s sexual misconduct in a Lasch Building locker room. Judge Thomas Gavin later awarded McQueary an additional $5 million in damages on whistleblower claims.

Penn State now claims Gavin showed bias against McQueary throughout the trial, specifically in providing members of the jury with instruction on who qualifies under mandatory reporting law. Gavin reportedly told the jury former administrators Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz, and Tim Curley qualified as mandatory reporters.

“The court’s instruction was akin to taking the case out of the jury’s hands and directing a verdict in favor of McQueary,” Penn State’s lawyers say.

The brief Penn State filed covers the defamation and misrepresentation claims, which the jury decided in the trial. The university also said it will challenge the whistleblower verdict issued by Gavin at a later date, according to The Associated Press.