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It's over
Posted December 5, 2007
The best thing to say about Wednesday's announcement that CU has reached a settlement with the two women who had filed a lawsuit against the school:
It's over.
In the long run, it's the best for the school and the athletic department. Most legal folks still believe CU would have won the suit, but it would have cost millions of dollars in litigation fees, it would have opened up old wounds, and it would have once again shined the national spotlight on the school that needs to move on.
And, even if CU had won, the university had already been convicted in the court of public opinion. That would not have changed.
A few other quick thoughts:
-- Kudos to Hank Brown for getting it done. CU's president could have left the issue on the plate for the next president. Instead, Brown did the tough thing: he reached a settlement, thus making sure the slate was clean for whoever replaces him. That should also make finding a quality replacement that much easier, simply because every candidate for the job would have been casting an eye to the future and wondering about the impending suit. Now the obstacle has been removed.
-- What happened to the women's day in court? Throughout these proceedings, all we heard was that these women "deserved their day in court." Evidently, that day has a price tag. Evidently, Baine Kerrlisle's bluster about the women having the chance to tell their side was just so much hot air.
If the case really had been about their day in court, they wouldn't have settled. They would have forged ahead. But in the end, as we knew all along, it was about money, plain and simple. The women sold their day in court. They didn't want justice; didn't care. The only question all along was the price tag.
-- The fact that a member of the CU Board of Regents was married to the attorney who was suing the school may go down as the most blatant example of conflict of interest ever. Ever. Kerrlisle has an extra $1 million or so in his pocket today, and his wife will continue to vote on issues concerning the university. Why is it that whenever attorneys from Boulder make news, it's for questionable character? (Adverse possession, anyone?)
-- And finally, Wednesday's announcement erases at least one hurdle for ex-CU coach Gary Barnett if he still has designs on coaching again. Prior to the settlement, it's highly unlikely an A.D. was going to hire a coach who was going to have to testify in a highly publicized trial that directly involved him. With the suit now gone, Barnett's curb appeal has no doubt increased.
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Posted by archalon on December 6, 2007 at 7:04 a.m.
"as we knew all along, it was about money, plain and simple."
Well said.
Posted by roscoebuff on December 6, 2007 at 8:42 a.m.
Man, I stayed up late last night to read the depositions of Simpson, her roommate and Marques Harris, who was at the party that night.
Clearly, at best, there is foggy and cloudy information in everyone's testimony that makes it clear there were a lot of bad choices made that night. The players and recruits are certainly to blame for their conduct (in particular the host players for even getting in that situation) but the fact that Simpson and her friends had been drinking heavily for hours on end that afternoon and evening really puts into question their judgment and ability to recollect how and what transpired.
Sexual violation is sexual violation if someone is drunk or sober but why are college girls hosting the party passing around a box of condoms? And when one of the girls names' that was repeatedly blacked out on the deposition is spending the night at the Omni Hotel (where recruits are hosted) the previous night....what does that say about her credibility, which ultimately reflects on herself and her friends.
Let the truth be told than no formal charges were ever made in this case because there is so much reasonable doubt to cast in so many areas.
This was a bad, sad deal for the university some of us love and have grown up rooting for and are now proud alums who spend hard earned money on season tix. I am glad it is over, too.
Posted by IAM4CUINIOWA on December 6, 2007 at 2:29 p.m.
Great article Neil, and as I mentioned after another article on this site:
Everyone should get and read the book, "Buffaloed", by Bruce Plasket.
Posted by rswright on December 11, 2007 at 10:45 a.m.
I am in favor of the settlement as well but not for the reasons Neill gives, that is, to get it over. I will do no good to CU's reputation that it paid 2.8 million dollars to two girls who allege they were raped because CU fostered a climate in which the raping of students was allowed.
But lets get it straight what happened here. For 3 years CU fought to establish there was no evidence that CU was responsible. Every blog including Neill blamed this litigation on the plaintiffs. Neill because they wanted their day in Court. But from the initial papers filed in court Neill as well as the University knew this case was about compensation. Every one who wrote comments on the article blamed the ligitation on someone else ie.The DA, the the media, the girls, their attorney etc. If these were valid defenses, CU's counsel would have raised them and this the Court of Appeals would have affirmed the dismissal but they didn't. CU had to face that the Court of Appeals found there was evidence that the allegations of the Complaint were true, enough to go to trial.Compare this with the Duke rape case. That case fell apart under scrutiny. But the CU case didn't. As a result, CU had to face trial and the possibility a jury would find it was responsible. Rather than face this possibility it bought it's peace and established rules by which this type of occurence was unlikely to occur again. Face it folks, there was a situation at CU which had to be corrected and this litigation (or the threat of it) was a cause of those corrections. One should be pleased with this settlement not because it is over but because because of it CU is not likely to have an even worse situation, with its concomitant damage to CU's repuation, ever occur again.