The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld a civil verdict against the University of Minnesota and Tubby Smith. The ruling upholds an earlier decision that the school must pay $1 million to Jimmy Williams, who says he quit his job at Oklahoma State to work for Smith -- but was turned away due to alleged recruiting violations.
The state Supreme Court Wednesday overturned a $1 million award against the University of Minnesota and men's basketball coach Tubby Smith over the hiring of assistant coach Jimmy Williams. The assistant quit his job at Oklahoma State in 2007 because he thought Smith had hiring authority, but the U of M later withdrew the offer. The court said Williams did not have protection against negligent misrepresentations from Smith about his hiring authority.
The largest civil jury verdict in Stearns county history was overturned by the Court of Appeals. Cathy Olson filed a civil lawsuit against her uncle William Holden for sexual abuse she endured from 1977 to 1984. Olson claims repressed memories was the reasoning behind filing a lawsuit nearly 30 years later and she was awarded $10.7 million by a jury. The Court of Appeals disagrees, ruling two of her claims were barred by the statue of limitations.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has reversed a $60,000 judgment against the Minneapolis blogger known as Johnny Northside. A post led to the firing of a University of Minnesota employee, who then claimed the blogger had interfered with his contract with the U. In overturning the award the appeals court said the information was true and the blogger protected by the First Amendment.
The Minnesota Supreme Court will hear the appeal of a former nurse convicted of encouraging suicide in online chatrooms. Fifty-year-old William Melchert-Dinkel of Faribault was convicted of two counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, of Coventry, England, who hanged himself in 2005; and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, of Brampton, Ontario, who jumped into a frozen river in 2008.