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Salyers Lawsuit DISMISSED

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LightningRod

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Case Dismissed

Judge dismisses OSU hoops suit
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Bruce Hooley
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- The lawsuit which led to the firing of former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O'Brien and prompted OSU to self-impose a one-year postseason tournament ban was dismissed Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Alan C. Travis cited an Ohio law which makes verbal contracts un enforceable when entered into for more than one year in dismissing the case filed by Kathleen Salyers against Dan and Kim Roslovic, who employed Salyers as a housekeeper and babysitter.

Salyers had sought approx- imately $350,000 for damages and expenses she incurred housing former OSU player Boban Savovic during his career from 1998-2002. Salyers claimed the Roslovics promised to pay her $1,000 per month, plus expenses, to provide for Savovic after the NCAA ruled he could not live with the Roslovics because of their status as Ohio State athletic boosters.

Travis cited statements in Salyers' deposition that termed her contract with the Roslovics as a four-year agreement, not a month-to-month arrangement that would have been enforceable by law.

It was Salyers' deposition that also disclosed O'Brien's payment of $6,000 to 7-0 Aleks Radojevic, who signed to play at Ohio State, but was ruled ineligible by the NCAA before enrolling.

O'Brien was fired June 8 of last year, six weeks after admitting that payment to then-Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger.

"I'm very disappointed, but not surprised," Salyers said of the case's dismissal.

"I've felt something like this was coming for months, because the judge wouldn't rule on any of our motions."

Salyers' attorney, Jeffrey Lucas, said the dismissal "was not a result I anticipated."

"At this point, we are looking at our options," Lucas said. "An appeal is a strong likelihood."

The dismissal will have little impact on the NCAA's investigation into violations committed by O'Brien and his former assistant Paul Biancardi. Geiger has said that inquiry is nearing completion and will likely not result in additional sanctions that would impact the program Thad Matta now coaches.

OSU is considering forfeiting the two Big Ten co-championships, conference tournament championship and Final Four berth it claimed during Savovic's career to atone for the severity of the violations.

Geiger also has said the NCAA will likely find OSU lacked institutional control over its men's basketball program during O'Brien's tenure. That could bring sanctions upon Biancardi in his current position as the head coach at Wright State.

In his deposition in the Salyers' case, taken April 21, Biancardi said he knew in the summer of 1998 that Savovic went to live with Salyers after the NCAA ruled he could not live with the Roslovics.

Biancardi said Savovic told him Salyers was the Roslovics' housekeeper.

Just before that, notes from a meeting at OSU to review the NCAA ruling barring Savovic from living with the Roslovics show Biancardi was in attendance.

Asked if that gave him concern that Savovic living with Salyers was an NCAA violation, Biancardi said, "No."

The NCAA met with Biancardi in Pittsburgh in mid-April, where its investigators surprised him with his home telephone records during the Savovic era.

Biancardi's OSU phone records from that time show more than 600 calls to New York agent Mark Cornstein and his associate, Semi Pajovic.

In his deposition in the Salyers case on April 21, Biancardi said he "had no reason not to believe" that Pajovic is Savovic's uncle, even though numerous newspapers have reported Pajovic's role as a street agent for Cornstein over the past year.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4748
Click to expand...
 
osugrad21 said:
Unfortunately, this formality, if I am comprehending correctly, does not change the facts nor the perception of the situation.
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that is correct. if the situation plays out as stated in this article, jim obrien can kiss his lawsuit goodbye.

the "lack of institutional control" is a scary term. But the NCAA isnt a big fan of punishing new regimes for the mistakes of their predecessors. osu's proactice approach may have saved them from a bigger penalty.
 
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Geiger also has said the NCAA will likely find OSU lacked institutional control over its men's basketball program during O'Brien's tenure.
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Can anybody find the actual quote where Geiger said this? I'm looking for the context and what his own words were.
 
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I would like to see the source of that statement as well. I have been following this too closely to miss that one.

Also agree this settles nothing. If this causes them to throw in the towell it is a good thing. If they refile all it does is stretch out the uncertaintly.

As anyone can clearly see this whole situation is killing our recruiting.
 
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the dispatches story
http://www.dispatch.com/bball/bball.php?story=dispatch/2005/05/10/20050510-E1-00.html
Judge dismisses Salyers’ lawsuit
Case at the center of O’Brien’s firing at OSU derailed on technicality
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Kathy Lynn Gray and Aaron Portzline
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The lawsuit that led to the firing of coach Jim O’Brien and sparked an NCAA investigation of the Ohio State men’s basketball program was dismissed yesterday. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Alan C. Travis rejected Kathleen Salyers’ claim against her former employers, Kim and Dan Roslovic, on a technicality. "I’m very gratified it’s over," Kim Roslovic said. Her ex-husband, Dan, did not return calls seeking comment. As of last night, Salyers and her attorney, Jeffrey K. Lucas, were not sure whether they would appeal.
"I’m exhausted," Salyers said. "It might be a year or three years, but it’s not over yet. That much I can say.

"(The Roslovics) should be ashamed of themselves."

Travis dismissed Salyers’ main assertion — that she had an oral agreement with the Roslovics to care for former Ohio State basketball player Slobodan "Boban" Savovic —because it was filed under the wrong section of the law.

The judge said that in Salyers’ court deposition, she called the oral contract a "huge commitment. It was a four-year commitment."

Based on that statement, and other claims by the Roslovics’ attorneys, Travis ruled the case would fall under Ohio law governing fraud, which requires a written contract for an agreement that extends beyond one year.

Salyers said last night that her comment was taken out of context and that her commitment to care for Savovic was month to month until he left Ohio State.

"It should have been for a jury to decide," Salyers said.

Travis did not rule on the truthfulness of Salyers’ claims that the Roslovics promised to pay her $1,000 a month plus expenses for caring for Savovic beginning in July 1998. Salyers was seeking more than $600,000.

"The decision does not address Kathleen’s underlying claims, just that, by the judge’s opinion, the contract was not enforceable," Lucas said.

O’Brien was fired June 8, 2004, for giving $6,000 to Yugoslavian recruit Aleksandar Radojevic, an NCAA infraction that surfaced when Salyers originally filed suit against the Roslovics on May 8, 2003.

When he arrived in the United States, Savovic lived with the Roslovics, for whom Salyers performed cleaning and babysitting services. When it became known that the living conditions were an NCAA infraction, Savovic moved in with Salyers and her family.

Salyers said she paid all of Savovic’s living expenses, including clothing, food and travel, and talked OSU professors into changing his grades to keep him eligible to play basketball. She continued going into debt, she has said, because she feared Savovic would be returned to war-torn Serbia.

Lucas withdrew Salyers’ case on July 12, 2004, and refiled it six days later. It was to be heard by Travis on Aug. 2.

Kris Dawley, attorney for Dan Roslovic, was not surprised by the ruling.

"What we have said from the beginning is the claims of Mrs. Salyers against the Roslovics are false," Dawley said. "We believed once we had a chance to present the evidence to the court, the court would find them untrue and we would prevail.

"There is no support for these claims against Dan Roslovic, and this decision supports that."

Kim Roslovic’s attorney, Curtis F. Gantz, did not return a call seeking comment.

O’Brien is suing Ohio State for $3.5 million, claiming the university improperly fired him before the NCAA investigation had run its course.

Reached yesterday, O’Brien’s attorney, Brian Murphy, said the dismissal of Salyers’ suit did not affect the former coach.

"The only thing that has done damage to him are the actions of Ohio State," Murphy said.

Dispatch reporter Kevin Mayhood contributed to this story.


[email protected]



[email protected]
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"(The Roslovics) should be ashamed of themselves."

Pot. Meet Kettle.

Ya daft wench, you were a major factor in a HUGE bloody nose for our great university, and you have to audacity to criticize others? Good Lord, woman...

you've just made the list of people who should not be allowed to contaminate our gene pool.
 
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Salyers needs to rot in hell. Go ahead, pick on a dead man. And Bruce Hooley taking delight in this bullshit.

Wendy's founder named in OSU flap
Thomas offered Savovic cash, player's patron says
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Bruce Hooley
Plain Dealer Reporter

Columbus- Kathleen Salyers said she didn't know she was committing numerous NCAA violations with her care and support of former Ohio State basketball player Boban Savovic.

But she said that when she saw one of Columbus' biggest corporate benefactors - Dave Thomas, the late founder of the Wendy's restaurant chain - offer Savovic an envelope full of cash in March 1999, she knew enough to prevent Savovic from taking it.

Salyers filed suit against Dan and Kim Roslovic in 2004 seeking approximately $350,000 for damages and expenses she incurred housing Savovic during his OSU career from 1998-2002.

The NCAA had ruled Savovic could not live with the Roslovics because of their status as OSU athletic boosters. Salyers claimed the Roslovics promised to pay her $1,000 per month, plus expenses, to provide for Savovic.

The Roslovics employed Salyers as a housekeeper and babysitter.

Salyers' lawsuit led to the firing of former OSU coach Jim O'Brien and prompted OSU to impose a one-year postseason tournament ban for its men's basketball program this past season.

A judge dismissed Salyers' suit earlier this week, citing an Ohio law which makes verbal contracts unenforceable when entered into for more than one year.

Salyers confirmed the incident regarding Thomas and Savovic on Friday, after The Plain Dealer obtained depositions taken for her lawsuit.

In a March 18 deposition, Nancy Burson, who also employed Salyers as a housekeeper, testified that Salyers had told her about Thomas' visit to Salyers' home .

Salyers said Thomas came to her home around the time of the 1999 men's Final Four and attempted to give Savovic an envelope "filled with a thick pile of money."

"I took it out of Boban's hand, looked inside and saw what it was," Salyers said. "I immediately handed it back to Dave Thomas and said, 'He can't accept this.' I was very protective of Boban, and I knew that was against the rules. Dave Thomas was very polite about it. He said, 'I didn't know it was against the rules.' "

Salyers told The Plain Dealer that Thomas was accompanied to her home by Columbus insurance agent Samuel Farb, a long-time Ohio State basketball booster. Farb's wife, Rosalyn, was Thomas' longtime personal assistant until Thomas' death in 2002.

Reached Friday night at his home in suburban Columbus, Farb denied ever being at Salyers' home with Thomas.

"If I had been there with Dave Thomas, she would have known it, because I would have introduced myself," Farb said. "I was contacted by her attorney and I told them it wasn't true. Not one bit of it is true. To use Mr. Thomas' name, and to say she met him with me, is an absolute lie."

Farb said he had contact with Savovic only once. "I gave him a ride from [OSU's] Schottenstein
to Gahanna."

Salyers lived in Gahanna at the time Savovic lived with her.

Farb confirmed that he and Savovic's high school coach, Ed Leibowitz, were once business associates in the mid-1980s.

OSU records show that since 1980, Farb has contributed more than $57,000 to OSU athletics - including $6,000 over the past five years to the men's basketball Sixth Man's Club. Records show that Farb owns four Center Court Club seat licenses in Ohio State's Value City Arena at $7,500 apiece.

That amount that does not include what Farb has paid for his six football season tickets and eight basketball season tickets he has purchased annually since 1997.

Asked about his contributions to OSU athletics, Farb said the school's records "were low."

"I've probably given about $150,000 to them over the years," Farb said.

But Thomas, Farb said, was not an Ohio State sports fan.

"In the 30-some years my wife worked for him, he never attended a sporting event at Ohio State," Farb said. "He didn't even like basketball. He would never have given an athlete money. He would never do anything dishonest."

OSU records show Thomas was never a basketball season-ticket holder, but that he purchased 18 football season tickets from 1998-2000; and six club seats in Ohio Stadium and 18 football season tickets from 2001 until his death.

The latter purchase has been continued by Thomas' widow, OSU said.

Asked Friday why she did not allow Thomas to give Savovic cash, when she has confessed to lavishing the former OSU player with cash, gifts and clothing, Salyers said:

"I thought it was OK for me to give Boban those things . . . I thought the problem was that the Roslovics couldn't give Boban money because they were OSU boosters. I wasn't an OSU booster."

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

[email protected], 216-999-4748​
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Time to Dig Into Hooley's Past

She knew what Thomas was doing was against the rules, but she didn't know what she was doing was against the rules - what a load of shit. Dave Thomas just fell out of a coconut tree while she is grand universal sage. How do OSU people find these crazies?​
 
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bucknuts44820 said:
what kind of bs is that! A man of Dave Thomas's intelligence and knowledge of OSU would know what is against the rules, thats to hard to believe.
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It is a slanderous hearsay, as Thomas is sadly unavailable to rebut the claims made by Salyers.

44820 I agree that the more common term, out of court, is indeed bullshit, in this case shameful bullshit. Hooley should have more care than to besmirch the Thomas name.

I wonder if the Thomas estate has any recourse, though it seems doubtful, or even unwanted. In the case of Hooley 1st amendment privilege takes precedence, I may not like the fact that he reports claims made in depositions untested by cross-examination in court, however it is his right to do just that. For the Thomas' and OSU basketball taking Salyers to task over these claims would only serve to perpetuate the half-life of the slander itself.
 
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There is a major problem I have with the Thomas story. Assuming Hooley was intelligent, why did he not ask Salyers why Thomas would have been interested in giving Boban a boatload of money when the man never ever bought basketball tickets to any OSU venue game? The record shows that Thomas had a history of buying football tickets but had never bought basketball tickets. This story is so full of shit that even Hooley, as dumb as he is, should have figured this out.
 
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