Lawsuit alleging sexual harassment against former football coach Rich Rodriguez, University of Arizona dismissed
A lawsuit alleging sexual harassment and a hostile workplace environment against former Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez and the university was dismissed earlier this month, with both sides only paying their own costs and attorneys' fees.
The stipulated dismissal ends four years of legal issues involving Rodriguez, the university and a former administrative assistant, who first made allegations in 2017. A U.S. district judge approved the dismissal, which came after the university last month filed a motion for summary judgment, seeking dismissal based on a late filing. The dismissal does not include a settlement agreement or a nondisclosure agreement, and neither Rodriguez nor the university paid the former assistant to settle the case.
"This brings closure to a 4-year saga, affirming what we have maintained from the beginning -- that the plaintiff fabricated claims of harassment in an attempt to exact a large financial settlement," Bennett Speyer, Rodriguez's attorney, said in a statement to ESPN. "The scheme failed. She did not receive a single cent from my client or UA. Unfortunately, Coach Rodriguez paid a steep reputational price as the subject of publicized false allegations. As an added cost, his wife, Rita, and their children, as well as former UA staff members and players, were unnecessarily harmed."
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The dismissal occurred because Rodriguez's former assistant did not file her civil rights complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within the 300-day deadline from the time of the alleged harassment, instead filing 343 days later. She initially filed a $7.5 million notice of claim with the Arizona attorney general's office on Dec. 28, 2017, alleging that Rodriguez ran a hostile workplace. The assistant alleged that Rodriguez forced her to keep his extramarital affair with a woman not affiliated with the university a secret and that he had groped and attempted to kiss her.
The University of Arizona investigated the allegations throughout the fall of 2017 and could not substantiate them, but became aware of information that caused administrators to "be concerned with the direction and climate of the football program." Rodriguez was fired Jan. 2, 2018, after going 43-35 in six seasons at the school.
Rodriguez admitted to having the affair but denied all other allegations and said the former assistant had threatened a $7.5 million lawsuit against him. The former assistant, who did not participate with the university's investigation into Rodriguez, filed an $8.5 million notice of claim against the university on Jan. 18, 2018, alleging that the school was liable for Rodriguez's conduct.
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