Ex-MSU Staffer Alleges MSU Manufactured Report to Clear Mark Dantonio of Wrongdoing
Looks like dismissed football coach Curtis Blackwell has alleged, as part of his wrongful termination lawsuit against Michigan State, that the Jones Day Report was a manufactured attempt by administration to clear Dantonio of any wrongdoing in the sexual assault scandal that came to light back in January 2017.
I'm sure all the Spartan faithful will dismiss this as a smear attempt, but it certainly adds to the picture we've seen during Dantonio's tenure of a leader and a staff willing to look the other way in the pursuit of football results.
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:30 AM ^
Somebody should ask him about these allegations, preferably at halftime Saturday night.
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
"coach dantonio, are all the allegations surrounding you contributing to the enormous bags under your eyes and your chipper, pleasant demeanor?"
October 2nd, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
"Coach, it looks like the opposition has been able to expose some issues in your program. How will you be able to manufacture a defense?"
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:31 AM ^
Blackwell must be asking for a lot of money, otherwise MSU should have settled this case a loooong time ago. It could definitely get interesting if they start turning over lots of stones.
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:43 AM ^
Either that or the higher ups at MSU are just that arrogant.
Kind of ironic, isn't it?
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
It's like ten thousands when all you need is a knife
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:22 PM ^
*ten thousand spoons fify
October 2nd, 2019 at 3:51 PM ^
It's like ten thousand fans, when your stadium seats 80,000.
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:03 AM ^
Not really, 4.5 from university and 4.2 from campus police. They could of paid the 9 million , it makes me think they are in serious debt maybe because of the Nassar stuff
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:38 AM ^
You can't make multi-million dollar settlements without opening yourself to further scrutiny. Especially if you're a public institution. That's 70x the annual salary of someone suing them for wrongful termination. And he never had more than a one year contract.
Maybe you keep specific information out of the public view, but you can't credibly profess any kind of innocence. It could only be seen as covering for Dantonio, given that he was prominently named in the lawsuit.
October 2nd, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
I thought it curious that the damage estimate was based on lost wages as a college football coach. Was he ever actually a college football coach?
October 2nd, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
No, but I'd guess he had gotten some offers. MSU gave him a fairly substantial raise, more than a MAC assistant would make. I'm sure they are making optimistic assumptions, but coaching was the most likely next step in his career.
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
Even recognizing the potential for a public black eye, $4.5 million is an obscene amount of money for a wrongful termination settlement. No employment law attorney I know would advise settling for that number absent a video of Mark Dantonio, holding up his birth certificate, taking a polygraph test, DNA sample, punching a picture of Mike Hart, stating that he unequivocally ordered Blackwell to cover it up. (Yes, I'm an employment law attorney).
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
I don’t know, with a high paying job at 30 years of pay loss, it’s around the right amount.
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
He's 41, his listed salary was $120k a year, so even going $120k * 24 years (until age 65) it's still only ~$2.9m. Now maybe there's some other pieces (how much did he make from SMSB camp?, emotional damage, etc.), so say $3.5m. That's assuming best case scenario for Blackwell, and we're still $1m off - and that's his top figure.
This is just my opinion of course, and I understand the explosive nature of the allegations can bump that number a bit higher. But in my experience, that's a very very high number. Let alone to consider settling for that amount without the mitigating evidence you might have. I have dealt with people making 2x-5x that amount a year and considering settling for $1m would be a big step (admittedly, not with the same media coverage). EDIT: And I'd add, when looking at settlement pricing, I don't know any defense counsel that assumes top payout at setting their figure, so we'd be significantly down from $3.5m. They might use it to state worst case, but that's about it.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Maybe. Or maybe they don't think they did anything wrong and don't want to be strong-armed for cash.
They may not think they did anything wrong because they didn't.
They may not think they did anything wrong because no one has internally admitted any wrong.
They may not think they did anything wrong because they never even bothered to look.
But, usually they only settle if there is a risk they lose. Having someone make accusations shouldn't really be considered a loss. They can explain that away if they win.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
Did you happen to read to deposition? Blackwell had some pretty detailed events and conversations that took place.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Some of it. But, the internal investigation may have gathered a bunch of people saying "he's lying."
So, if you are MSU's attorney, do you think the school did anything wrong? Maybe those people lied to you. Maybe they are the ones telling the truth. Maybe there isn't much more there to look at.
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:50 AM ^
If you are the school and Dantonio has a history of similar type issues and your other athletic department has had issues across multiple sports, you think you'd make changes. PSU did. OSU did for much less. MSU, on the other hand...
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Whether or not this is true, this is wreaks of desperation. Blackwell putting this information out publicly gives him no leverage now. If he had any actual proof we likely would have never seen this story and things would have been settled behind closed doors for a lot of money as you indicated. Dantonio is a slime ball but Blackwell is starting to look just as bad...which shouldn’t be a surprise since Dantonio seems to want to surround himself with these types.
October 2nd, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
....which goes to show that, even in the most dire of legal circumstances perhaps, they still will not shell out for assistants.
Sorry, terrible joke, I know.
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:31 AM ^
Why talk about misconduct and actual real life pain caused by everyone’s favorite regional university when you can bash Michigan’s offense issues?
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:34 AM ^
That’s a stretch
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:17 AM ^
Yeah and those goddamn boundary stretch plays never work amirite
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:34 AM ^
Jones Day is one of the biggest law firms in the country. The odds they would be complicit in a cover up of something like this, for the negligible fee they earned in the big scheme of things, are infinitesimal.
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:42 AM ^
I used to think that way too. Then over the last 20 years I hired some of the biggest law firms in the country. To pretend that they are some beacon of moral absolutes and uprightness in our society is far from the mark. They can pretty much convince themselves of any sort of relativistic “right” point of view, when motivated ($) to do so.
(For the record, I am not saying every attorney is an immoral piece of trash, before someone puts words in my mouth to that end.)
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:46 AM ^
This is so true. You know what you get if you hire certain big, “prestigious” firms. Some firms are known for being very good at burying accusations, often times regarding CEO misbehavior.
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
Attorneys represent clients. It's become the thing to have prestigious (otherwise known as large) law firms handle internal investigations. If the client, in this case the MSU upper echelon, needs the investigation to produce certain results then those results are produced. And the "prestigious" law firm gets a huge check. And MSU whistles the happy tune "there's nothing to see here!"
Want some fun? Someone FOIA the Jones Day bill. Associates billing $500 an hour? Partners at $1,000 an hour? Endless dinners at $100 per person or more? Whatever is the most expensive hotel in Lansing, that is where they stayed.
October 2nd, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
The big law firms tend to have excellent attorneys, who cost a lot. Larger firms tend to have an advantage over smaller ones (and smaller clients) due to the simple fact of resources. No one ever pretended they are more ethical because they are bigger. They know how to protect the firm while representing the clients. Anyway, Blackwell's got some dirt, he will find out how much it's worth.
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:45 AM ^
I don't think we know their fee was negligible, but that being said, it is hard to imagine how Blackwell's legal team would be able to substantiate these allegations beyond simply his word. It seems doubtful that there's some memo floating around out there on MSU letterhead instructing Jones Day to keep Dantonio's name out of the whole scandal.
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:01 AM ^
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:20 AM ^
Because I’m sure they are willing to share information on the case. Sorry if I missed the /s
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:14 AM ^
Please tell me you didn't take that seriously...
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
Make sure that if they send you any mail regarding it, you post a picture here
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:02 AM ^
I look at it more like they are paid to do a job and do their best to give the client what they want so that they will get more business.And nobody has to tell Jones Day to protect the beloved head coach.There are so many ways conclusions in reports like this can be shaded one way or another, not to mention areas unexplored that might lead to unfavorable results.If it is well done, they can't be accused of covering anything up.
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:08 AM ^
I think the most accurate term to use for this situation is "whitewashing":
To whitewash is a metaphor meaning "to gloss over or cover up vices, crimes or scandals or to exonerate by means of a perfunctory investigation or through biased presentation of data
The thing you need to keep in mind is that the whole Jones Day investigation was completely voluntary on MSU's part and had no connection or obligations to actual legal proceedings. It was up to law enforcement to perform the true investigation and determine what crimes were committed. MSU was just trying to show that they took this situation seriously and they handled it "properly".
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
It was up to law enforcement to perform the true investigation and determine what crimes were committed.
Yeah, and we all know how far that went with the East Lansing police working on the case.
October 2nd, 2019 at 8:55 AM ^
I don't think they necessarily covered anything up. But what they choose to look and not look at, what data and information they choose to put in a report depends on what they were hired to do. Any organization that large is probably familiar with covering their clients asses.
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:18 AM ^
Yah right, just examine the swamp in the US government bureaucracy and legal arms. Its political now and not about us. At MSU, it's not about us either. Aka the student.
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:20 AM ^
Pepper Hamilton is a pretty big firm, also, but they did a pretty good job of glossing over Baylor's issues with Art Briles.
You get what you pay for, and MSU paid to show they were good people.
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
Pep Hamilton and not doing their job. Sounds familiar
October 2nd, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
How old are you? Nobody ever retains a firm to do an internal investigation and then has a bad outcome.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
Baylor hired Pepper Hamilton out of Philadelphia, also one of the largest and most prestigious national law firms, to do what could be called an "investigation".
They did Baylor's bidding, only producing a verbal report to their board, so there was no written record to be subpoenaed. When Baylor got sued, they resisted turning over any of the documents relating to their investigation, eventually getting sanctioned by a federal judge.
It would not be a shock to see that the Jones Day investigation of MSU wasn't truly independent. It's a big national firm, yes, but they only had two lawyers working on the case. So far they aren't turning over any documents, including their contract with MSU.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
You do not understand what the biggest law firms in the country do. One small example relevant to the sports world is Paul Weiss' role in the deflategate investigation where they played the roles of "independent" investigator and defense attorney for the NFL, calling into question whether they were actually independently investigating. The District Court judge relied on that in deciding to overturn the arbitration decision.
https://biglawbusiness.com/paul-weiss-role-in-nfl-deflategate-questioned-by-n-y-judge
Again, this is only one of thousands of examples of the complicity that these law firms have in the wrongdoing of their clients.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:38 AM ^
Jones Day doesn't do anything for a negligible fee. And certainly not like something like that.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
No offense, but this is a dangerously naive take. I don't know what happened at MSU, but disavow yourself of this way of thinking, please.
Jones Day may be a large firm and they have a "brand" to maintain. You are right about that.
But, to think a law firm... or any hired consultant... wouldn't be open to creating a biased opinion based solely on the size of the firm is crazy.
Jones Day may make a small amount on this matter, but its income is made up of mostly similar sized matters. It doesn't scoff at people who can pay its fees. Plus, it is especially important to the attorney that gets the origination credit. A multi-million dollar legal fee for one case means something to a partner at a big firm. Also, it is important to future business as OSU and other schools hire firms looking for similar clearance reports. You think anyone is hiring Louis Freeh to look at their school now?
Also, there is no need for them to affirmatively "cover up" anything. They can just fashion the results in a light favorable to their client and ignore "unsubstantiated" things. They know that is what their client wants.
Ultimately, an attorney's ethical and objective nature are completely unrelated to the size of the firm where they work. Some solo attorneys are slimy. Some large firm attorneys are slimy.
But, to think size/brand of a firm, alone, makes the chances "infinitesimal" that an attorney working there writes a biased report is next level naviete.
Unethical people work at big companies. Enron. Arthur Anderson. Big Tabacco Studies. Health South.Tyco. WorldCom. CMBS loan rating agencies. Countrywide. Volkswagen. Various presidential scandals. The list goes on and on and on .... (and those are just the big ones that we know about. There have been a lot of partners at large law firms embroiled in mini-scandals... that were very minor in the big picture of the firm's finances.)
I am not saying Jones Day did anything wrong. I have NO IDEA. I am not saying big companies/firm shouldn't be trusted. I think they can be trusted.
But to think that being a big company/firm drastically reduces the chances someone there is doing something mildly wrong (i.e., looking the other way about some facts) ignores a lot of what we learned.
I get it though. I wouldn't run any risk if I were them either. But those people are out there.
October 2nd, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^
You don't need to be complicit when intentional ignorance is so much easier. Lawyers are taught all the time to not turn over the page, don't follow up on something, etc. if it is likely to cause more trouble for you or your client. It's not that they aren't doing their jobs, they just know that if you ask a question you want to be sure you sorta know the answer. And so they know not to ask.
And not to get political, but we have some pretty substantial, public claims of investigative agencies and lawyers failing to follow up on certain avenues of inquiry in order to, allegedly, come to the most desirable outcome.
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Law firms are made up of lawyers. Lawyers who want to be paid. And to get paid they need to generate $. And that’s an almost inherent conflict rarely discussed.
So, what’s the budget? $3M? For that kind of money there’s no way people can say we didn’t look right? And we assume for that kind of money you Mr. Lawyer are going to be “hands on” and give us “regular updates” about what you’re (not) finding, right? Oh to do that “thorough” an investigation its $4M? Don’t worry of course we’ll show you “all” the files.
Give me a break.
October 2nd, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
October 2nd, 2019 at 7:34 AM ^
"Jones Day is one of the biggest law firms in the country."
That's true.
"The odds they would be complicit in a cover up of something like this, for the negligible fee they earned in the big scheme of things, are infinitesimal."
That's a non-sequitur. I'll bet you felt confident in saying it, though.