After hearing six days of testimony, a jury has dismissed all claims in a lawsuit filed by former Louisiana State University athletics administrator Sharon Lewis, who accused top officials of retaliating against her for reporting sexual misconduct.
As reported by The Advocate of Baton Rouge, the panel of five women and three men handed down the decision Wednesday afternoon inside the U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge.
In her lawsuit, filed in April 2021, Lewis claimed she was retaliated against after reporting sexual misconduct complaints made by two female students against Les Miles when he was LSU's head football coach. She contends she was wrongfully terminated after enduring 10 years of hostility. She asked jurors to award her more than $6.3 million in compensatory damages and another $300,000 for emotional damages.
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According to Matt Bruce of The Advocate, the jury deliberated three hours before finding that Lewis was not subjected to a hostile work environment or gender-based harassment. The verdict also ruled against Lewis' claims that her layoff was in retaliation for reporting Title IX violations, Title VII workplace complaints or for lodging a 2021 complaint against the university with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Related: Sharon Lewis Adds New Claim of Harassment to LSU Lawsuit
Title IX requires most university employees to report violations when they receive actual knowledge of them. Title VII is a civil rights mandate the protects employees from workplace discrimination based on race, religion, gender, and other protected classes.
"We are pleased that after a full review of the evidence, the jury ruled in our favor," LSU officials said in a statement moments after the verdict, as reported by The Advocate. "The simple truth is that Ms. Lewis was never retaliated or discriminated against. She was let go along with 41 other football staff members and coaches after a new head coach was hired."
Lewis, flanked by family members and her legal team, was visibly shaken by the verdict as she exited the courthouse Wednesday, Bruce reported. She did not answer questions from reporters, but her lead attorney, Larry English, said his team of lawyers is exploring legal options moving forward.
“We’re obviously disappointed. We think the evidence was compelling," he said. "We felt like we put on a great case. But we’re in a system where the jury makes a decision … and the jury has spoken.”
Lewis, a former heptathlete who won a national track championship while competing at LSU as a student, spent nearly 21 years working in the Tigers football program. Then-coach Nick Saban hired her as a recruiting coordinator in 2001, and she climbed the ladder to be associate athletic director for football recruiting and alumni operations in August 2020, making her the first Black woman in Southeastern Conference history to become an associate AD. However, Lewis would testify that the promotion did not come with a pay increase because she was a woman.
During closing arguments Wednesday, English reiterated a mantra he used to start the trial, telling jurors LSU fostered a “culture of fear, retaliation and violence” that victimized women in the athletic department.
“The undisputed evidence in this case shows that when people were charged with protecting women in the athletics department, they instead engaged in a hustle to protect the football coaches and their seven-figure salaries to continue winning football games," he said.
Lewis' attorneys spent five days presenting jurors with testimony trying prove that LSU had a “intentional policy of discrimination.” They painted Lewis as an ambassador for female empowerment in Power Five athletics who routinely spoke up for victims of abuse. "I think women deserve a seat at the table in the male-dominated world of sports administration," Lewis testfied Monday, as reported by Bruce.
LSU rebutted notions that Lewis was preyed upon, subjected to a hostile workplace or discriminated against because of her gender. University officials testified that a pay increase at the time of her 2020 promotion was unwarranted because Lewis' salary jumped from around $111,000 to $125,000 three months prior. It also came in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when LSU's athletic department was reeling from an $80 million budget deficit and across-the-board pay cuts were looming to stop the bleeding, Bruce reported.
LSU's attorneys argued.Attorney Michael Victorian told jurors that the statutory period for any of the claims cut off in mid-2020, so all of her “baseless allegations” about sexual misconduct and harassment during Miles’ coaching tenure were not pertinent to the case, he argued.
“Sharon Lewis and her attorneys are trying to get you to fall for an emotional trick. That’s why they’re trying to trigger your sympathy," he said. “It’s an emotional sleight of hand, ladies and gentlemen. That is the definition of a hustle.”
