Will these players go after google when a quick google search by any potential employer can pull this up?
8 former Hawkeyes sue the university and ask for Ferentz firing
- Thread starter Colonel Homer
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What impact is this going to have on the next recruiting class? How devastating on a scale of 1 to 10?
Iowa says it won't pay ex-players' demand for $20 million
Eight black former Iowa football players are demanding $20 million and the firing of head coach Kirk Ferentz over alleged racial discrimination they encountered while playing for the Hawkeyes.
Aurora can jump in as well. In discrimination cases your compensatory damages are generally back pay and front pay. So if you were working and discrimated against they use your wage and fringe benefits as a gauge for your back and front pay calculation which includes a deduction for taxes since it was s a wage loss claim essentially. But this is a little different since they were athletes at the time. So they would not have had “wages” from which to gauge off their loss loss off of. I have done a decent amount of employment discrimination work but not involving athletes. Kind of a novel thing. Now they can get emotional distress damages (same as mental anguish) if they are successful and don’t need medical support that they suffered but would surely help for that claim.
That is kind of what I thought. I just find it difficult to argue emotional distress several years after the fact.
Can I sue the 8 of them for causing me emotional distress?
A few interesting things I have thought about. First, why did only 8 sue when there were supposedly 60 that claimed some form of mistreatment? Because I guarantee everyone who said anything negative was contacted by counsel for a strength in numbers leverage play. I have my guesses. Second, by the time this moves through litigation and the BLM will in all likelihood not be at such a fevered pitch I wonder how many former players will come forward in support of KF. I mean when this hit last summer there was no way a black player (be seen as an Uncle Tom) or God forbid a white player would ever dispute anything negative being said. And I am NOT saying the allegations are false, I don’t know I wasn’t there and there were clearly issues. I am only saying there were thousands of kids that went through the program and a total of 8 are suing. Third, and Aurora correct me if I am wrong, but this whole 1/2 the money will go to the 8 Plaintiffs with the other 1/2 going to the other 52 or whatever the number, is not permissible absent a class action I don’t believe. I think it is a publicity stunt to show how the money is meant for all who were allegedly wronged. ThenRobin Hood approach. If they are not a “party” they are not entitled to damages unless there is an exception I may be unaware of.
I have experienced pain and suffering since early June.
Time to sue! They f'ing owe me!!!
That’s the thing that really exposes this lawsuit. The players that made accusations said they believe KF can fix the culture. This is a money grab for these guys. It’s sad but true.
Didn’t Wadley say he didn’t want to see anyone fired when all the accusations first came out? Seems interesting how quickly he changed that.
Oh I know but class actions can be difficult to certify. Not to name drop but myself and my former partner were involved in the Iowa Microsoft case as local counsel and to get certification wasn’t all that easy for the Pliantiffs. And I was just saying absent a class action this setting up a fund in this setting I don’t believe is feasible. But yes their best bet would be to get a class certified.
Everyone associated w/ UI sports needs to never mention these 8 again.
In other words, never post something like this:
In other words, never post something like this:
We need to kick it in gear folks!! Braskas already up to 240some posts on their board!!
They don't care about Iowa though
They don't care about Iowa though
Meal card suspended but the coaches wanted him to gain weight. Sounds like a dumb complaint to me there is no way the coaches would cut the meal card
So we got four things going on: the eight players suing, the team kneeling, the recruiting issues, and the Covid shortened season. What am I missing? Can we get 2020 over?
3. The toughest part will be getting players to be open minded enough to come visit. If the coaches can get recruits on campus and allow them the opportunity to talk with current players (who are behind the staff and program as far as we know), and see the changes being made, I could see some players actually see what’s happening here in a positive lightWhat impact is this going to have on the next recruiting class? How devastating on a scale of 1 to 10?
Iowa says it won't pay ex-players' demand for $20 million
Eight black former Iowa football players are demanding $20 million and the firing of head coach Kirk Ferentz over alleged racial discrimination they encountered while playing for the Hawkeyes.www.dailymail.co.uk
Obvious money grab, but Wadley was good. Give him $100K because he had some nice highlights. The rest were mostly scrubs/lazy/malcontents....maybe deserve a Taco Bell Value meal.
I'm okay with Barda getting fired and Ferentz should be on the hook for legal expenses since he's the target.
So we finally got this kind of tweet. Will we see more?
Good for you EM!
And shame on those twits that are trying to play a victim card for the dbag howe
This post got me thinking. Seems like all of them minus KMM were in the 12-13 recruiting classes, which is interesting the bulk came from a certain era of Iowa football, so all have been out in the real world a few years working post college. I'm not one on social media so tougher to look it up but figure with that type of stuff or Linkedin can find out where lot of people are employed these days I'm sure. But I wonder what the 8 guys in the lawsuit are all doing for employment right now or how they are making a living?
Since athletes aren’t employees, there can be no basis for asserting an employment discrimination claim.
Looks like they’d be looking to pursue a Section 1983 Civil Rights claim. I’m not a civil rights specialist nor do I ever want to be one. My understanding, however, is that a plaintiff must prove “actual” injury in order for there to be recovery. I’d think that being subjected to disparate treatment based in race would give rise to a claim for mental distress, anxiety, etc. one need not see a therapist to prove such a claim. It can be a credibility issue for a jury to decide as would the issue of whether players were treated to disparate treatment based on race.
As for class action certification, Im not a class action specialist. I understand that certification of classes has become more difficult after Class Action Fairness Act and - based upon what little I know - I’d think that it would be difficult certifying a class when each potential plaintiff would have been subjected to different specific actions. Class actions are better served to deal with issues where - for example - an illegal finance charge was applied across-the-board. Hard - if not impossible - to certify a class under these circumstances. I view it as a pretty empty threat.
My thoughts exactly. I was only responding to the question of “general damages” in discrimination cases. Which is why the back and front pay seem inapplicable here. And my class action experience was limited to defending Microsoft as local counsel. We basically carried water. But Minneapolis counsel who specializes in it had a hard time certifying a class which IMO would be easier than this situation since the facts and circumstances and allegations all seem to a degree distinguishable.
This. The emotional distress is really the only potential damage recovery I see. Saying the lost professional opportunities and a career from this is laughable. Especially when you consider it was Iowa who got Wadley into the XFL not that long ago. And the fact that Iowa puts a ton of players into the league.
One thing to watch for though with regard to employment is that more and more courts have been siding the with athlete side of things lately vs NCAA. However, there was a recent decision that sided with the NCAA and held that athlete wasn't an employee of the NCAA or Pac 12. On the other hand, the school wasn't named in the lawsuit. A court might reach a different outcome against a school.
Believe me ... I’ve given thought to whether a lawsuit might actually attempt to have a court conclude that college athletes are “employees” of the university. I know that is a goal of many athletes and athletes’ advocates. That’s why I noted earlier that the case will likely involve “novel” legal theories.
i’m also thinking that the potential “sex appeal” of this case is markedly diminished if class certification is denied. If that is the case, wouldn’t you think that there is a good chance that a court would be willing to sever - at least for trial purposes - each of the 8 claims? I know that I’d be pushing hard for that if I was defense counsel.
Victimhood - the condition of having been hurt, damaged, or made to suffer, especially when you want people to feel sorry for you because of this or use it as an excuse for something:
8 players out of how many over KF's tenure (which includes black coaches)? They want to complain about the N word being used yet they call each other that on a daily basis?
I still haven't heard any of these players describe what " being themselves" means or specifically what they weren't allowed to do that took away from their African-American culture.
8 players out of how many over KF's tenure (which includes black coaches)? They want to complain about the N word being used yet they call each other that on a daily basis?
I still haven't heard any of these players describe what " being themselves" means or specifically what they weren't allowed to do that took away from their African-American culture.
Yeah, no way KF or anyone shut off his meal card when they are trying to get him to put on weight. Just idiotic.
If they are employees then they can fired (in iowa) for anything, it's a "right to work" state and the athletes are not union.
They were paid for their time here in the fashion of scholarships which in today's climate of "free college" is exactly what they got. They bowl trips at the expense of the college (much like a conference you would go to for work). The medical coverage they recieved (like employer paid healthcare). The food they received (as part of their accepting the "job" here).
Oh and if the didn't make the NFL, that isn't on the coaches or school.
Explain how - if the word is that offensive, NOONE should use it - period. I hear it all the time down South by both white and black folk and they use it as common, everyday rhetoric.
I see you cherry picked as well - care to elaborate on the other items?
yeah, I am cherry picking because that was the ridiculous thing that you said. If all your other statements were that dumb I would have said so. If you don't understand why white people shouldn't be calling black people the N word, well it is probably because you are racist.
Yeah.... no.
1) If any Iowa coaches used the N-word, the players would be fully justified in being outraged. Nothing wrong with having the opinion that you don't think African Americans should say it either, but it's idiotic to not see how a white coach saying that is wrong.
2) If anyone actually thinks one of the coaches (believe Doyle is the only one "accused") called a player the N-word, you're an idiot. Is it possible he made a poor judgement one time and repeated the word after hearing it, such as a "did I just hear you say *****?" Possibly, but doubtful. Have a strong feeling that accusation will turn out like the "send you back to the ghetto" comment that actually was "send you back to [hometown].
Very likely it's not even that sort of embellishment. Fully think that it's just a flat out lie because an accusation using that word raises the stakes bigtime if you're talking lawsuit. Will be interesting to see how that one is backed up if this gets to discovery.
The severance is a great question. I did have a case where 3 females sued a car dealership for sexual discrimination and harassment. We decided to not sever cause one of the claims was strong while the other 2 were very weak. We were hopeful and it worked out that the weakness of the 2 claims would “drag down” the good claim and luckily it worked. But as you know, those are strategy decisions and if we had a crystal ball we would all be posting here from flying in our private jets. But generally I prefer the divide and conquer in these situations to remove the strength in numbers approach. Really the key will be class certification which is exactly why you need the silk stocking or boutique firm not the AG lawyers honestly.
With all of the allegations that were out there I don’t think I saw use of the ‘n’ word being mentioned. Was it part of the problem?
Not to argue but this is not accurate. Yes we have “at will” employees who can be fired for any or no reason UNLESS it violates the law. So I have female employees at my firm and I can fire them whenever I want unless it is based on sex, race, disability, age, etc.
So, given that you hear it "all the time down South," you've got no problem with anyone calling a black person - "n---er." Whether it be the foreman on a shipping dock admonishing his employees "damn you n---ers, can't you do anything right?" Whether it be a elementary school teacher referring to a student as a "n---er?" Whether it be the head of a corporate department who says to a black employee "I don't know why I can't get it through your n---ger head?"
Seriously? Are you that freaking daft?
Are you also of the mindset that bosses should be able to hug a female employee and pat them on the ass because that particular woman has friends she allows to hug her and pat her on the ass? If she isn't offended when her friends do it, why should she be offended if her boss does it?
It's why the practice of law is an art, not a science. Judgment calls have to be made which, by their very nature, open the door to second guesses when it doesn't go the right way.
This. I have a hard time believing Doyle or any Iowa coach called a player the N word in front of people. Seems like that would have come out a lot sooner and would have been easily backed up by other people's statements. Now, if I am wrong and people come out and say Doyle called someone the N word then yeah that is horrible and maybe things were worse than we know. But Iowa got rid of Doyle so that issue has been dealt with. The story about BF calling a "dumb ass black player" has already been proven to be false by people that were there saying he didn't use the word black. And If you start getting rid of coaches for calling players stupid for doing something, there won't be enough coaches left in the country.
100 percent. That’s why thankfully the Iowa Supreme has held we are not held to a level of clairvoyance and that tactical and strategical decisions are mostly protected.
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