You DON'T mean an ENTITLEMENT, do you? LOL :)Quote:
Originally Posted by UL_Cajuns
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You DON'T mean an ENTITLEMENT, do you? LOL :)Quote:
Originally Posted by UL_Cajuns
It does appear that the jurors had lots of inconsistencies in the way they answered questions. That makes me think the university's lawyers could have done a better job in screening jurors. I do understand that the judge allowed one juror to remain after the university questioned her ability to be fair. As far as the judge is concerned, his record is not stellar either as evidenced by the info in this post from the Scout board.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunch24
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=345&f=3397&t=4470094
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Originally Posted by Cajunsmike
Wasn't one of the university's lead attorneys a REAL ESTATE lawyer who, by odd chance, lived next door an influential former university official?? Yoooo Hoooo!
This was/is (should have been) a slam dunk case.
The loss sits on the shoulders of a disinterested law firm.
This case could have been used to give UL a truck load of positive publicity.
igeaux.mobi
I don't know anything about the background on UL's attornies, but this case should not require F. Lee Bailey. Once a judge fails to support proper jury selection, it is in the best interest of the defense attornies to open that door wide for an appeal. This judgement had "toss" written all over it.Quote:
Originally Posted by GetTheFacts1st
With a reasonable judge and proper jury selection in the next trial, there is no way Baldwin comes out on top.
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The ball is back in Jerry Baldwin's court.
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge vacated a $2 million judgment against the UL Board of Supervisors and former Ragin' Cajun athletic director Nelson Schexnayder. That judgment came after a jury found that Baldwin, a former head football coach at UL, was terminated, in part, because of racial discrimination.
The appeals court remanded the case for a new trial. Baldwin also could appeal the ruling further to the state Supreme Court. Efforts to reach Karl Benard, lead counsel for Baldwin, as well as attorneys representing UL, were unsuccessful.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090702/NEWS01/907020308/1002/Baldwin-case-sent-back" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Brady Aymond • baymond@theadvertiser.com • July 2, 2009
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Baldwin, who served as UL's head football coach from 1999-2001, filed a lawsuit after being terminated following the 2001 season.
Claiming breach of contract, discrimination and emotional distress, Baldwin filed the suit naming UL, the UL System Board of Supervisors and then-Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder as defendants. UL was later dismissed as a defendant.
The university argued that Baldwin's contract was terminated because of performance and dwindling attendance. Baldwin's teams went 6-27 during his three seasons as head coach and attendance at Cajun games dipped from 15,289 in Baldwin's first year to 13,323 in his final season.
In 2007, a jury ruled that Baldwin's race wasn't "the only reason he lost the job, but one of the reasons."
Baldwin was awarded $2 million in damages, including $600,000 for emotional distress.
The appellate court heard the appeal on Tuesday in Baton Rouge. In its ruling, the court cited, "more than one reversible error, ranging from juror selection to a judgment not reflective of the jury verdict" for vacating the judgment.
In their appeal, attorneys for the UL Board of Supervisors and Schexnayder argued the jury verdict form contradicted itself.
On the issue of racial discrimination, the jury answered no to the first question of whether Baldwin's termination was because of his race. However, the jury answered yes to the question of whether Baldwin's race played a determining factor in his termination.
On the issue of breach of contract, the jury answered yes to the question of whether UL breached its contract with Baldwin. But in a second question, the jury answered no to the question of whether the breach of contract was in bad faith only to answer yes to another question asking if the termination of Baldwin "violated moral rules or elementary fairness, or was in bad faith."
In a July 10, 2008 story in The Advertiser, Larry Marino, one of the attorneys representing the defendants cited numerous inconsistencies among the jurors.
"They held that Coach Baldwin was not fired because of his race, but they also held that race was a determining factor in his firing. That's inconsistent," Marino said at the time. "You also have them saying breach of contract, but in finding that, also finding there was an abuse of rights. ... How can you find an abuse of rights if there was a breach of contract?"
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Have you ever picked a jury?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cajunsmike
You're trying to predict the future behavior of strangers as a group based on their present behavior in a jury box for the few minutes you have to talk to them.
In most courts you don't get anything by way of backrground until the jurors fill out the questionnaire the morning of jury selection.
The best you can do is try to get rid of those witnesses you KNOW will vote against you. They tried that, and inexplicably, that juror with the pending discrimination case should have never been seated.
Once she was, the whole case was a farce.
On the other hand, the Judge knew that the case was going to get reviewed by the Court of Appeal regardless of what the Jury did.
Before you bash the Judge, remember, he was the one who threw the case out on Summary Judgment in the first place.
The National Tooth-Pick Society has just filed a legal brief with the State Supreme Court, declaring your post as hate speech!LOL!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by GetTheFacts1st
From my limited experience with jury trials, I hope and pray my fate is never in their hands. I know it's the best system available, but expecting some people to leave a possible bias at the court house door is a reach at best. imoQuote:
Originally Posted by AstroCajun
I thought the defense had a certain # of jurors they could excuse from the pool without too much trouble. If that was attempted and it was pointed out to the judge that this juror had a "pending discrimination case" and he nevertheless sat her over objections...he needs not only to be bashed, but sanctioned. imo
But isnt that what the appeal courts are all about, to protect from unjust bias from jurors or judges, to take an abstract look at a case and make a judgment on whether the court case was fair or not. we need bias in our courts, because it keeps the judicial system honest. Because after all its run by humans just like all of us. You want people to have an opinion, you want people to care. If everybody just fell in line this whole existence would be kinda pointless.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4LSU
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Originally Posted by CajunT
I do not know why they would do that......they look down on losers who use their product, just as (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they) do!
EDSBS Blog Post
Best part of the post:
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Reading between the lines, the main reason for the overturn seems to be that the trial happened in Louisiana, and went about as well as most Louisiana jury trials go: disastrously for Teams Logic and Fairness. Pay attention and laugh along, Category 5:
The appeals court also found Johnson wrongly granted “expert witness” status to a man who testified about how being fired might make it difficult for Baldwin to obtain another coaching job.
The appeals judge ruled that the man offered only a personal view unsupported by any “indicia of reliability.”
In addition to our lifelong dream of being convicted for practicing law without a license, we now have a new one: being an expert witness on something in a trial without having any expertise in the subject whatsoever.
I have never picked a jury although I have been considered for a couple and saw a little of the process. I admit I may have been too harsh on the legal team as I am not really qualified to judge their performance. As far as the judge is concerned, I saw some research on his history generated by an acquaintance. Let's just say his record is not reflective of someone who is a model citizen.Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroCajun
On a more positive front, Astros have a chance of being only one game under 0.500 by the end of the day. A 2nd half run similar to last year is possible. This from a club that most prognosticators said would be one of the worst in MLB.
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UL - University of Louisiana is very pleased with a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal to throw out the judgment in the Jerry Baldwin case. The university denied former Head Football Coach Jerry Baldwin's allegations that he was fired because of race.
UL has a long history of leadership in bringing about diversity throughout the campus, including collegiate athletics. UL was the first historically white university in Louisiana to integrate its athletics program and the first in Division IA in Louisiana to hire a black Head Football Coach.
This Court of Appeal ruling clears the way for a new trial. The university is confident that the courts will rule in its favor in any future proceedings.
Jerry Baldwin's record during his three years as Head Football Coach of Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns was 6 wins and 27 losses.
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Credit Louisiana’s 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge with a rarity – a legal judgment in the sports world that makes sense.
Now, if common sense prevails in whatever forum former UL football coach Jerry Baldwin now takes his discrimination case, the state and the university stands to be cleansed of one of its uglier legal chapters.
On Wednesday, the circuit court threw out a $2 million judgment that a 19th Judicial District Court jury – one that proved its ignorance of the workings of collegiate athletics – had awarded Baldwin in 2007. In that case, Baldwin claimed racial discrimination by the university, the UL Board of Supervisors and former athletic director Nelson Schexnayder for his firing after the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 2001 season.
At the trial, Baldwin claimed breach of contract, discrimination and emotional distress, and the racially-balanced jury – six white, six black – voted 10-2 to award Baldwin $500,000 for general damages and emotional distress, $600,000 for lost wages and $900,000 for future lost wages.
<center><p><a href="http://www.neworleans.com/sports/local-sports-news/ull-news/159628-appeals-court-makes-right-call-in-baldwin-discrimination-case.html" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Dan McDonald
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Those numbers were shocking at the time, mostly because the jury ignored the only numbers that should have mattered – six and 27.
The six were the wins that UL had in three seasons under Baldwin – two over Division I-AA teams (Baldwin’s I-A Cajuns went 2-3 against I-AA teams in his tenure, two over a struggling UL Monroe program and wins over Idaho and Middle Tennessee. The combined record of the four I-A teams Baldwin beat was 7-37.
The 27? Well, those were the losses in three years. They included defeats at the hands of three I-AA teams in the same season – Sam Houston State, Northwestern State and Jacksonville State – in 2000. The Cajuns also lost by scores of 45-0, 44-0 and 48-0 all in the same season in 1999.
And it’s not like UL was playing a powerhouse schedule during that three-year stretch. At least in 1999, Baldwin inherited a first-season schedule that ranked in the top 100 – 95th, to be exact. The next two years the schedules got easier, with the slate ranking among the nation’s easiest at 125th in 2000 and 114th in 2001. A grand total of two I-A schools in the country played easier schedules over those three years.
During Baldwin’s first season, the university made a huge push to create interest, rally support and sell tickets, and an average of 15,289 attended home games. That average slipped by around a thousand each of the next two years and was down to 13,323 in 2001 – announced crowds, that is. Actual attendance, although undocumented, was likely the second-lowest in the school’s history.
In a way, Baldwin and the UL program were lucky. Had the current APR rules been in effect at the time, those that track student-athlete retention, the school would still be trying to pull itself out of a nearly bottomless hole.
More telling even than the numbers, though, was the emotional depths into which the program had sunk. The community was divided between those that were upset with the program’s status and those that didn’t care, with true supporters hard to come by.
Even among supporters, many felt that Baldwin was not ready to be a major-college head football coach. He had been an assistant at LSU – not a coordinator, which was supposedly one of the requirements in a candidate’s background – from 1993-99 and was about to be out of a job with LSU’s firing of Gerry DiNardo and the eventual hiring of Nick Saban after the 1999 season.
Bad football, no support, program in tatters … usually in this situation, the head coach is on the chopping block. That’s a fact of life in college athletics.
The folks on that 2007 jury didn’t understand any of that. What they did hear, and apparently believed, was an “expert witness” that said Baldwin’s firing cost him the chance to coach professionally in the NFL, and hence the $900,000 award for future lost wages.
The NFL? My gosh, the man had to go overtime to beat Wofford.
Racial discrimination? Throughout Baldwin’s tenure, UL was one of two I-A schools in the country with African-American head coaches in its two major sports, football and men’s basketball. And Jessie Evans might still be the Cajuns’ hoop coach had he not accepted another job after the 2004 season.
The difference was that Evans won games, winning Sun Belt Western Division titles each of his last three years and getting to postseason play in all three. Baldwin didn’t win games … it’s that simple.
Of course, nothing’s simple when it comes to the judicial system. According to the opinion from the three-judge appeals panel released Wednesday, the vacating of the original judgment still doesn’t have much to do with those terrible win-loss records and the state of the program.
That opinion cited problems with jury selection, confusion over the jury verdict form and the allowing of those “expert witnesses.” In other words, technicalities.
“A fair, impartial resolution requires a new trial,” the opinion stated.
The case can either go back to the appeals court to reconsider the ruling, to the state Supreme Court for a review, or back to trial. We probably won’t know the next step for a while.
So far, in sports parlance, the appeals court is 1-for-1, the district court is 0-for-1, the Supreme Court hasn’t had its turn at bat and the legal teams are the only ones getting close to their salary caps.
Remember, though, that sports parlance, and the usage of common sense, mean little inside court chambers. And that’s the scary part.
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I would just as soon have as unbiased of a jury as possible deciding my fate out of the blocks, but if you need a bias jury deciding yours...I say go for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by cajunhawk
As to the appeal courts, you are pretty much right on target. imo
I can't believe UL would fire someone for a mere 6-27 which kept butts out of the seats. Something else was going on that people missed. REBUILBING was in progress, folks.
Toothpick houses ---one after another --were being built with wreckless abandon.
and of course the irony of his being so bad and causes even more crap with this stupid law suit!!!!!
If he wasn't so unsuccessful he would still be the coac . . . and I would be sporting a tooth pick.
igeaux.mobi
Turbine, you get my reply to your pm yesterday?Quote:
Originally Posted by Turbine
:)
Z
If you only knew what goes around in our "justice" system between police, Prosecutors, Judges, etc. Americans wouldn't throw around the words, "We have the best Judicial System in the World" as fact. Granted, I don't have first hand knowledge of other countries Judicial systems, but unless they just flip a coin, we don't have the best system in the World.
The more appropriate saying is "We have the best Judicial System ON PAPER".
Forget about the courts, judges, etc.... what ever happened to.... you are a coach. you are losing. The program is sinking. you get FIRED! A good coach is a good coach. they are not a good "black coach" or a good "white coach". If you are losing, you are fired. If you are winning, you are praised. I don't see the outrage when a white coach, or a black coach gets fired at any other university or professional organization. What am I missing here?
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Former UL head football coach Jerry Baldwin's attorneys will ask for a rehearing, Baldwin's attorney Karl Bernard said this week.
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in Baton Rouge unanimously threw out a $2 million judgment against the UL Board of Supervisors and former Ragin' Cajun athletic director Nelson Schexnayder.
That judgment came after a jury found that Baldwin, a former head football coach at UL, was terminated, in part, because of racial discrimination.
"We were a little disappointed in the ruling," Bernard said. "But we do respect the First Court's decision."
Bernard said he is looking through the appellate court's ruling and will soon request a rehearing. If that is not granted, he will appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090704/NEWS01/907040308/1002/Baldwin-to-seek-another-hearing" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
Tina Marie Macias • tmacias@theadvertiser.com • July 4, 2009
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"Whether Baldwin requests a rehearing or goes to the Louisiana Supreme Court, we are confident that the university's actions will be vindicated," attorney Stephen Oats said.
Oats and the university said they were pleased with the ruling in statements released Thursday.
"This ruling clears the way for a new trial, at which we will continue to vigorously contest Coach Baldwin's allegations," Oats said in a release. "We are confident that at a fair trial the jury will recognize that he was fired because of his six wins and 27 losses and not because of his race."
UL reiterated his comments.
"UL Lafayette has a long history of leadership in bringing about diversity throughout the campus, including collegiate athletics. UL Lafayette was the first historically white university in Louisiana to integrate its athletics program and the first in Division IA in Louisiana to hire a black head football coach," according to a release.
Claiming breach of contract, discrimination and emotional distress, Baldwin filed the suit naming UL, the Board of Supervisors and Schexnayder as defendants. UL was later dismissed as a defendant.
Baldwin, who served as UL's head football coach from 1999-2001, filed a lawsuit after being terminated following the 2001 season.
In 2007, a jury ruled that Baldwin's race wasn't "the only reason he lost the job, but one of the reasons."
Baldwin was awarded $2 million in damages, including $600,000 for emotional distress.
The university argued that Baldwin's contract was terminated because of performance and dwindling attendance. Baldwin's teams went 6-27 during his three seasons as head coach and attendance at Cajun games dipped from 15,289 in Baldwin's first year to 13,323 in his final season.
The appellate court heard the appeal on Tuesday in Baton Rouge. In its ruling, the court cited, "more than one reversible error, ranging from juror selection to a judgment not reflective of the jury verdict" for vacating the judgment.
Advertiser sports writer Brady Aymond contributed to this report.
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Will he ever just go away?