Report: Federal appeals court upholds decision to dismiss $40 million lawsuit against Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss

A three-judge panel from a federal appeals court ruled this week to uphold a lower court decision to dismiss a $40 million lawsuit brought against Ole Miss and head football coach Lane Kiffin, according to a report from Front Office Sports’ A.J. Perez.

The lawsuit, filed by DeSanto Rollins, a former defensive lineman at Ole Miss under Kiffin, alleged Kiffin was “malicious, intentional, willful, wanton, grossly reckless, and indifferent” in regard to Rollins’ mental health. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed that suit, which Rollins then appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Rollins’ original lawsuit alleged that Kiffin “ignored” indications the 305-pound defensive tackle was suffering from depression when he requested a mental health break from the team and includes an audio recording of a contentious meeting between Rollins and Kiffin from March.

To that, Kiffin’s lawyers responded with the following: “Plaintiff has not alleged Kiffin treated him differently than other similarly situated individuals, much less that he did so with discriminatory intent because of Plaintiff’s race or sex.”

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The crux of Rollins’ argument in his lawsuit, according to reporting done by FOS, appears to be that Kiffin was upset Rollins didn’t enter the transfer portal after the 2022 season and was punished as a result.

According to FOS, Rollins said he was “being moved from his defensive tackle position to the scout team on the offensive line,” prompting him to seek a mental health break.

The ordeal culminated in an eventual spring meeting with Lane Kiffin that proved contentious, the audio of which FOS obtained and has posted in its article on the situation.

Rollins’ suit claims that similarly situated individuals like a white football player, white female softball players and female volleyball players did not face similar punishment for taking mental health breaks.

But Kiffin’s lawyers say there is no merit to Rollins’ claims in the $40 million lawsuit.

For one, they say that multiple times this spring Kiffin requested a meeting with Rollins and he did not respond until several weeks later.

Kiffin’s lawyers also noted there is no obligation for a coach to speak to his players in a particular manner nor is there a duty to have written institutional procedures on how to handle “routine mental health referrals.”

It’s unclear if Rollins will continue to appeal his claim any further at this point.