How out of the mix can you be if you are the primary target of the plaintiff? Penn State Health is the proxy.
FC/OT: Article says Franklin tried to interfere with team doctors…
- Thread starter Midnighter
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How out of the mix can you be if you are the primary target of the plaintiff? Penn State Health is the proxy.
I guess we could reduce the $700M stadium expenditure to $694M. Maybe remove a few light bulbs to the lighting and reuse the urinal troughs.
Because Penn State health firing an employee won't get hits to feed the trolls. Add a D1 coach and sensationalize it and you get more hits as it sounds better. PSU fans wondering why they bring the HC into the mix....come on now we have seen that tune played before.
No matter how you look at this verdict, one thing is clear. The diminution of the Penn State brand continues unabated. The national perception is that malfeasance is aberrational at other schools but the norm at Penn State.
But he wasn't fired and from what I understand, they moved him into a position with the same salary. It seems he sued because he got his feelings hurt.
Dr. Sebastianelli, whom Joyner replaced with Lynch, didn't cause a shiz storm when he got transferred. Now he has his job back and Lynch isn't going to be welcome at any PSU tailgates moving forward, if you know what I'm saying.
So the $5mm award was punitive? For hurt feelings?
OK: So, $250,000 compensatory, $5mm punitive. And he was terminated as team doctor and head of medicine for PSU athletics. They may have moved him, but he was still canned. Franklin and PSU Athletics not directly named due to filing technicality.
Not entirely. IIRC Lynch claimed that because of the damage done to his reputation he has fewer patients and, thus doesn't qualify for bnuses as large as those he previously received..
Folks, Penn State’s defense (from ESPN article):
Defense attorney Sarah Bouchard tried to present Lynch as someone who had bad communication with Franklin, which led to their disputes, and that his not being on campus every day -- due to his long commute -- contributed to that breakdown. She cited the case involving Windsor, noting that Franklin was upset that Lynch wasn't in State College to discuss Windsor's options.
"And you told the jury on Friday that Coach Franklin hung up on you," she said.
"That's my assumption," Lynch said.
"And can we all agree that no one can hang up on you if you're speaking in person?" she countered.
Defense attorney Sarah Bouchard tried to present Lynch as someone who had bad communication with Franklin, which led to their disputes, and that his not being on campus every day -- due to his long commute -- contributed to that breakdown. She cited the case involving Windsor, noting that Franklin was upset that Lynch wasn't in State College to discuss Windsor's options.
"And you told the jury on Friday that Coach Franklin hung up on you," she said.
"That's my assumption," Lynch said.
"And can we all agree that no one can hang up on you if you're speaking in person?" she countered.
In his closing argument, the plaintiff's attorney addressed the jury, saying (in essence) - If they (PSU) did wrong, the question is "How big of a punitive judgement will it take to get them to stop"?
The jury, apparently, felt that number was $5 Million.
That jury has no appreciation for how PSU spends money.
Neeli Bendapudi: Know this: not one cent of that award will come from tuition dollars or the state appropriation.They seriously do not know Penn State do they?
Rod Erickson: Cash is fungible.
Well, when the judge declares it a mistrial and removes you from the lawsuit, I’d say you are out of the mix. The Plantiff used his name to attach the lawsuit to because it got the headlines they were looking for.
Read Franklin and Penn State were removed on a technicality. Where is the mistrial judgment?
This is the headline and reality - whether or not Franklin was part of the suit.
Ex-PSU doctor awarded $5.25M in termination suit
A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics team doctor who claimed head football coach James Franklin interfered with medical treatment and that he was removed as team physician in retaliation for complaining about Franklin.
www.espn.com
Yeah, kinda hard for a mistrial to be declared before a trial begins.Read Franklin and Penn State were removed on a technicality. Where is the mistrial judgment?
This is the headline and reality - whether or not Franklin was part of the suit.
Ex-PSU doctor awarded $5.25M in termination suit
A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics team doctor who claimed head football coach James Franklin interfered with medical treatment and that he was removed as team physician in retaliation for complaining about Franklin.
Read Franklin and Penn State were removed on a technicality. Where is the mistrial judgment?
This is the headline and reality - whether or not Franklin was part of the suit.
Ex-PSU doctor awarded $5.25M in termination suit
A jury Wednesday found in favor of a former Penn State athletics team doctor who claimed head football coach James Franklin interfered with medical treatment and that he was removed as team physician in retaliation for complaining about Franklin.
Mistrial declared in fired Penn State football team doctor's lawsuit over 2019 ouster
A mistrial was declared during opening arguments of a trial in a lawsuit filed by a fired Penn State football team doctor alleging that he was ousted after complaining to school officials about alleged pressure to clear players to return from injuries.
www.nbcphiladelphia.com
Judge Dismisses Former Team Doctor's Lawsuit Against Franklin, Penn State
A former Penn State football team physician's lawsuit against coach James Franklin and Penn State was dismissed on Wednesday after a Dauphin County judge ruled he waited too long to file the claim.
www.statecollege.com
This is what I am asking. How is Franklin the centerpiece of the lawsuit if the allegations against him and PSU were dismissed? The second article says the allegations against Penn State Health were permitted to proceed.
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Franklin was removed from the lawsuit in 2020 before trial proceedings began, again on a filing technicality. When the current case, without Franklin as a plaintiff, started in early May PSU's attorney's mentioned that. Lynch's attorney objected to that as being prejudicial. Judge agreed, declared a mistrial, dismissed the jury, and started all over again (including the empaneling of a new jury, can't unhear what's been heard) on 5/20.Mistrial declared in fired Penn State football team doctor's lawsuit over 2019 ouster
A mistrial was declared during opening arguments of a trial in a lawsuit filed by a fired Penn State football team doctor alleging that he was ousted after complaining to school officials about alleged pressure to clear players to return from injuries.
Mistrial declared in fired Penn State football team doctor's lawsuit over 2019 ouster
A mistrial was declared during opening arguments of a trial in a lawsuit filed by a fired Penn State football team doctor alleging that he was ousted after complaining to school officials about alleged pressure to clear players to return from injuries.
Judge Dismisses Former Team Doctor's Lawsuit Against Franklin, Penn State
A former Penn State football team physician's lawsuit against coach James Franklin and Penn State was dismissed on Wednesday after a Dauphin County judge ruled he waited too long to file the claim.
This is what I am asking. How is Franklin the centerpiece of the lawsuit if the allegations against him and PSU were dismissed? The second article says the allegations against Penn State Health were permitted to proceed.
Grim has it.
Thanks. Again, forgive my ignorance. I’m trying to understand this. So, was Franklin and PSU then brought back into the lawsuit after being dismissed from it?
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Someone (PSUFTG2???) can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe one of the issues relating to his "reassignment" (not firing) was that he was supposed to be the team doctor, yet did not maintain (or obtain) licensed privileges for surgical procedures at Mt Nittany Hospital (just down the street from Beaver Stadium) and the players had to travel to Harrisburg (Hershey) for any surgical procedures.
If that is accurate, that would be a significant inconvenience to the player(s) and an understandable reason for CJF and/or the AD to get a "local" doctor.
Gonna be a little awkward for Lynch at work moving forward I would think. Especially if fellow doctors are invested in the practice.
No, Franklin and Penn State were never parties to the suit because Lynch's attorney had missed a filing deadline (think of it as a statute of limitations). Lynch was left to sue Dr. Black, his supervisor, and Penn State Health. While the latter is part of Penn State, it is a separate legal entity and can be sued separate and apart from PSU. But in Rod's immortal word, cash is fungible.
Ok. Thanks. So, my original point was that Franklin had no reason to testify and the media buzz around him and this suit is somewhat misleading since the suit against him was dropped. He’s the focal point because he is the HC but he had no liability here due to the suit against him being dropped.
Fungibility aside, could lynch have gotten a larger judgement had PSU and Franklin been party to the suit? I am just thinking of the higher profile of the case in that scenario.
Sorry if this is a stupid question. Besides just being stupid, I am no legal beagle.
A/K/A Cmor ***. IIRC, used to write for Altoona Mirror. Hung around a previous iteration of this forum, sourcing material for his daily assignment. Jerk, hence the moniker.Cmor as in ”see more”?
Hard to say. Haven't seen a breakdown between amounts assessed against Black or Hershey. Who knows how juries think?
Reason? It's not as if he has any control over being put on the witness stand. Plaintiff's attorney wasn't calling him and PSU's weren't that stupid. He escapes financial penalty, but his reputation is damaged.
Franklin was essentially a "defendant in absentia". He couldn't be a defendant to the suit due to the time clock running out before he was added - but, given the adjudication of the trial, it was most certainly his (alleged) actions that were the entire focus of the cause of action.
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Lynch, TTBOMK, had privileges at MNMC (I am not sure if he had those from "Day 1" when he started as the Athletics Medical guy - not sure how long that process typically takes - but he had them before he left/was fired). Must not have been much of a concern, as Joyner would have had to be aware (and has the professional background that is fairly unique in that regard) when he hired him.
The bigger issue wrt location is that MNMC is a regional hospital (a fine enough hospital for a small town, IM personal O as a local resident) but doesn't have the facilities or depth of expertise to be a preferred location for more complex cases - and those are sent to Hershey, or elsewhere (regardless of the particular identity of the primary physician).
Fortunately, cases that complex would not be common - but, yes, it would be somewhat less convenient than having a more advanced facility located right in State College.
I don't know if that was an issue the defense tried to present at trial (I wasn't in the courtroom), but if it was, I can only assume the jury didn't find it a particularly compelling issue - or, at a minimum, that the evidence presented did not support that as a contention for why Lynch was let go.
Am I correct that Franklin has no authority to override medical decisions? If so his involvement would have been to encourage Black to replace Lynch.
BTW, do we know the player that threatened suicide and Franklin wanted to medically disqualify him in order to free up a scholarship?
Ex-PSU doc awarded $5.25M in suit alleging James Franklin interference - ESPN
BTW, do we know the player that threatened suicide and Franklin wanted to medically disqualify him in order to free up a scholarship?
Ex-PSU doc awarded $5.25M in suit alleging James Franklin interference - ESPN
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