Fitz Suing NU Trial

[HailToPurple]

Does anyone know if a firm date has been set for the trial. Last word was that it would be this April.

Judge allows former coach Pat Fitzgerald's lawsuit against Northwestern to continue

A judge has denied Northwestern’s motion to dismiss former coach Pat Fitzgerald’s $130 million lawsuit against the school claiming he was wrongly fired in the wake of a hazing scandal.

apnews.com

Hopefully Fitz gets some justice and compensation for Schill's unfortunate knee-jerk action.

 

[its_the_sauce]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

NU dishonorably broke his contract. NU should fire Schill and apologize to Fitz, then maybe he'd settle for something less.

 

[No Chores]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

Because it's probably the right thing to do, if you believe as I do, that Fitz was wrongfully terminated. Of course, there is also the possibility that NU will win the case based on evidence that no one on this Board is aware of.

 

[No Chores]

Someone on this Board indicated that depositions were ongoing and offered to check the docket to determine who has been deposed to date. This is of considerable interest to me because I have always felt that NU's counsel would not offer up Schill for a deposition, and would settle the case prior to such a deposition. Of course, I could be wrong about this, because, like everyone else here I have no idea what the evidence consists of.

 

[HailToPurple]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

I don't see it that way. If Fitz wins and is awarded the whole amount he is asking for it would represent only 2.5% of the school's annual budget. I'm confident that they could find that amount of money laying around somewhere and don't see why it would have to impact any specific programs or athletics. I would bet that there is a slush fund somewhere just for this type of contingency.

 

[corbi296]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

Because NU was wrong to fire him. Schill caved and railroaded Fitz. Regardless of my allegiance to NU, wrong is wrong.

 

[corbi296]

I don't see it that way. If Fitz wins and is awarded the whole amount he is asking for it would represent only 2.5% of the school's annual budget. I'm confident that they could find that amount of money laying around somewhere and don't see why it would have to impact any specific programs or athletics. I would bet that there is a slush fund somewhere just for this type of contingency.

Probably most of the settlement/payout will be covered by Insurance.

 

[Ilvolino]

Someone on this Board indicated that depositions were ongoing and offered to check the docket to determine who has been deposed to date. This is of considerable interest to me because I have always felt that NU's counsel would not offer up Schill for a deposition, and would settle the case prior to such a deposition. Of course, I could be wrong about this, because, like everyone else here I have no idea what the evidence consists of.

Depositions will include players who made allegations about the hazing and Fitz himself. Should be very interesting

 

[JournCat]

Probably most of the settlement/payout will be covered by Insurance.

I've tuned out of the talk of a trial date for this reason. No way does insurance let this go to open court. You always settle.

 

[No Chores]

Depositions will include players who made allegations about the hazing and Fitz himself. Should be very interesting

How do you know what depositions have been taken and/or scheduled? This could be determined by a Chicago area lawyer simply by checking the docket at the courthouse where the cases are pending. One of the lawyers on this Board previously posted that depositions are ongoing, and volunteered to check the docket in that regard. So far he has not done so, or at least he has not posted anything in that regard. I have always felt that NU will settle this case rather than producing Schill for a deposition, but, like everybody else, I have no idea what the evidence will reveal.

 

[No Chores]

I've tuned out of the talk of a trial date for this reason. No way does insurance let this go to open court. You always settle.

The problem here is that we don't know what the applicable insurance consists of, and, likewise, don't know what the evidence will likely establish. I can assure you, however, that cases like this one don't always settle, having tried numerous high exposure cases in my career on behalf of insurance companies and their insureds. Of course I've settled a number of them as well. Whether or not any case settles depends on the strength of the defense case as well as the potential dollar amount of the exposure.

 

[hdhntr1]

Asking seriously. Why would you WANT Fitz to get compensation? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure he'll end up with a nice payday, probably around the leftover value of his contract but why would you want him to win. Any money he takes away from NU is money we can't spend on our programs & athletes.

Because he was done wrong. No due process. And we have to stand for something. If they wanted to get rid of him for performance they could but they would have had to pay him. But what they did was vindictive and they worked hard to destroy him on the way out. At bare minimum it was wrong how they did it and if they are not forced to pay for that, what are we supporting?

 

[FeralFelidae]

I've tuned out of the talk of a trial date for this reason. No way does insurance let this go to open court. You always settle.

If Fitz doesn't need the money but wants a trial to clear his name?

 

[hdhntr1]

If Fitz doesn't need the money but wants a trial to clear his name?

He has been without pay for going on three years right now, and he has not gotten/taken any other job in the meantime. A large settlement would tend to clear his his name. Especially if one of the terms of the agreement is that NU had to admit fault in mishandling the whole situation

 

[csh2088]

Does anyone know if a firm date has been set for the trial. Last word was that it would be this April.

Judge allows former coach Pat Fitzgerald's lawsuit against Northwestern to continue

A judge has denied Northwestern’s motion to dismiss former coach Pat Fitzgerald’s $130 million lawsuit against the school claiming he was wrongly fired in the wake of a hazing scandal.

apnews.com

Hopefully Fitz gets some justice and compensation for Schill's unfortunate knee-jerk action.

Knee-jerk reaction to sexual assault. No wonder many of these crimes aren't reported.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Knee-jerk reaction to sexual assault. No wonder many of these crimes aren't reported.

How about the facts come out before conviction?

 

[dillonpgp]

If Fitz wins and is awarded the whole amount he is asking for it would represent only 2.5% of the school's annual budget. I'm confident that they could find that amount of money laying around somewhere and don't see why it would have to impact any specific programs or athletics.

The whole amount that Fitz is suing for also roughly equates to the annual amount of federal funding that is disappearing from what NU had been receiving from the NIH.

Please believe me when I say the NIH grant cut is not being viewed as something that can be replaced by looking in the seat cushions.

 

[NUCat320]

[REDACTED]

I think they’ll settle for something close to Fritz’s original contract value. The contract just looks like this wasn’t covered under ‘for cause’. I doubt we’ll ever know the number.

 

[HailToPurple]

The whole amount that Fitz is suing for also roughly equates to the annual amount of federal funding that is disappearing from what NU had been receiving from the NIH.

Please believe me when I say the NIH grant cut is not being viewed as something that can be replaced by looking in the seat cushions.

The NIH grant is an entirely different matter. There may be an impact on certain programs, but there is no reason that the athletics department budget should be used to compensate for it.

 

[Baz=Heisman]

Can we stop talking about Fitz FFS? Dude was a relic of the past… who we should leave in the past.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Can we stop talking about Fitz FFS? Dude was a relic of the past… who we should leave in the past.

No

 

[NUCat320]

[REDACTED]

I think they’ll settle for something close to Fritz’s original contract value. The contract just looks like this wasn’t covered under ‘for cause’. I doubt we’ll ever know the number.

@CappyNU nailed it!

 

[IGNORE2]

I've tuned out of the talk of a trial date for this reason. No way does insurance let this go to open court. You always settle.

At law division level, they simply entered a discovery schedule with an anticipated trial date with the first case management order. First, those schedules are never followed. Never. Second, once discovery closes, on the trial ‘date,’ there will be a bunch of cases scheduled. Court will try to settle them and the oldest case not settled will go to trial. The rest will be pushed to later dates where process will repeat until Fitz case is oldest case scheduled for the day then will proceed. That’s when most cases settle that don’t settle during discovery.

This case is more than a couple years away from trial.

 

[HailToPurple]

Can we stop talking about Fitz FFS? Dude was a relic of the past… who we should leave in the past.

I have a problem with anyone referring to Fitz as a relic of the past. He and Gary Barnett made the biggest changes for the better in NU football since Ara Parseghian. You can certainly have your own opinion regarding the charges brought about him. But calling him a relic of the past is going too far.

 

[IGNORE2]

[REDACTED]

I think they’ll settle for something close to Fritz’s original contract value. The contract just looks like this wasn’t covered under ‘for cause’. I doubt we’ll ever know the number.

Y’all forget all the other consolidated cases. PF no longer has his own courtroom. PF may change his tune on settlement as hoss deposition approaches or athletes not part of litigation but subpoenaed for deposition testify. Nobody can predict what they will say under oath and they have no fiscal interest.

This thing is far from a done deal. I think it’s those subpoenaed depositions that hold the keys to who gets paid.