BATON ROUGE, La. (Legal Newsline) – Fired Louisiana State University football coach Ed Orgeron has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that accuses the school of coddling athletes who are accused of sexual misconduct.
Orgeron, who led the Tigers to an undefeated national championship season in 2019, was told he won’t be back for next season but is continuing to coach to the end of this one. He’s also one of many members of LSU’s athletic department named as defendant in the lawsuit that was filed April 26 in Baton Rouge federal court.
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs believe that LSU's sexual misconduct response program has been in a state of complete neglect and dysfunction and that LSU and the Tiger Athletic Foundation ignore known issues "in favor of promoting and glorifying LSU student-athletes and coaches to reap the financial and reputational benefits of a venerated college football program."
The group of Plaintiffs, having attended LSU between the years 2013 and 2021 allege they are women who were victims of sex-based discrimination, including rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and/or stalking and trauma to be inflicted upon LGBTQ+ identifying individuals perpetrated by male LSU students, most particular male athletes.
Each individual plaintiff listed their personal experiences in the 118-page complaint.
Orgeron says he was responsible for reporting to former head coach Les Miles before 2017, so he can’t be held liable for any ignored misconduct during that time.
The motion also fights the case’s proposed class action status, claiming each plaintiff’s and purported class member’s experiences would be so different that a class could not be certified.
Specific allegations against Orgeron are time-barred under the state’s one-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, his lawyers say.
“Plaintiff Ashlyn Robertson claims that her boyfriend disclosed that she had been raped by a football player to Orgeron, and that Orgeron never reported the rape nor offered her any accommodations to help her deal with the aftermath,” the motion says.
“Putting aside the fact that these conversations and omissions are alleged to have occurred in the fall of 2016, prior to the time when Orgeron was head coach and had any authority or responsibility to take any such actions, Robertson’s claims against Orgeron are time-barred.”
Other allegations against Orgeron are based on hearsay and aren’t specific to enough to be sustained through the motion-to-dismiss phase, he claims.
“Plaintiff Jade Lewis’ allegations against Orgeron consist solely of hearsay statements made by third parties, purportedly advising that they would advise Orgeron of information, or providing the contents of an alleged conversation between Orgeron and another defendant to this proceeding,” the motion says.
“The allegations contain general references to allegedly insufficient actions taken by ‘LSU’ and ‘some of the football coaches.’ However, the one definitive action taken against her alleged offender was correctly attributed in the amended complaint to the ‘Orgeron defendants,’ who appropriately ‘indefinitely suspended John Coe from the LSU football team’ immediately upon learning of his arrest.”
Title IX claims can’t be made against school employees, the motion adds.