Curtis Blackwell Lawyers Want to Depose Harbaugh

Submitted by winterblue75 on October 8th, 2019 at 3:38 PM

Per Tony Paul of Det News and his Twitter

 

Tony Paul

@TonyPaul1984

· 1h

In a court filing yesterday, fired MSU staffer Curtis Blackwell's lawyers now have asked for UM coach Jim Harbaugh to sit for a deposition. For some reason.

Mr Miggle

October 8th, 2019 at 6:00 PM ^

He's made Robertson a central part of his case against MSU and Dantonio. Remember Dantonio said he didn't fire Blackwell because of the issue that got him suspended and arrested. He claimed it was a philosophical difference that started earlier. Reading between the lines, one might think he was blaming Blackwell for recruiting Robertson and company. I'm guessing he regrets that now.

Oh Deer

October 8th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^

LOL. A Harbaugh deposition would be...…. interesting. Have they not seen his answers to questions in press conferences? They would end up knowing less than they did when the deposition started.

iheartinsurance

October 8th, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^

He wants Harbaugh to speak to Blackwell’s great character. There is some idea out there that Harbaugh tried to double his salary to get him to leave MSU. 
 

if he did that, it would support blackwell’s case for why MSU should not have let him go.

Sambojangles

October 8th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^

I'm wondering what the angle is here. Is Harbaugh supposed to be an expert witness of how not to wrongfully terminate a staffer? I can't imagine he would have any special insight into the facts of the lawsuit. Maybe it goes back to the recruitment of the one bad kid who started this whole thing. 

The longer this goes on and further away from the central issue, the more I think Blackwell's legal team is reaching here. MSU has every reason to settle, but they're not so either Blackwell is being ridiculous in his demands, or MSU truly believes it's not worth settling. Of course, MSU has done plenty of things in the last few years that most reasonable people would consider head-scratching, and that's being very generous.

UMmasotta

October 8th, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^

The questions you just described wouldn't be answered by an expert witness, that would be a fact witness. He would almost certainly not be allowed as a expert witness because it'd be near impossible to separate his "expert witness" opinions from his "fact witness" opinions.

I'm not super familiar with Blackwell's case, but I'd have a hard time understanding why Harbaugh would potentially have compelling evidence (that supports Blackwell's positions) that couldn't be obtained from more direct sources. Beyond that, I'm pretty sure Harbaugh would have to agree testify (would never happen, especially during the season) unless ordered by the court. 

But as to whether it'd be interesting? Yeah, if he ever had to testify on anything I'm sure it'd be interesting. 

Brianj25

October 8th, 2019 at 5:00 PM ^

Blackwell alleges that Michigan made him an offer nearly double what Michigan State was paying him. Blackwell is obviously no longer employed by Michigan State or any football program at this point in time, which begs the question, why hasn't Michigan hired him if they were willing to pay nearly double what Michigan State was paying? 

Blackwell is suing Michigan State for a number of things including damage to his reputation and loss of profits. The point of deposing Harbaugh is to find evidence that tends to prove that Blackwell would be gainfully employed but-for Michigan State's actions. 

Also, a word of caution to anybody posting here. Blackwell's attorney is an MgoBlogger.