San Diego State University (SDSU) has reached a settlement with its former women’s basketball coach, Beth Burns, who sued the school for wrongful termination.
The settlement came after SDSU appealed a March 2017 jury verdict, which awarded Burns $3,356,250, and the two sides were sent again to mediation.
The school terminated Burns in April 2013 with four years left on her new five-year contract. The jury found that SDSU acted improperly by firing Burns after she had expressed concerns about gender equity at the school.
The institution had claimed its decision to remove Burns was based, in part, on an internal investigation, which found a “history” of mistreating her staff. This history allegedly culminated with her actions during a 2013 home game between the Aztecs and Colorado State University, in which she had incidental physical contact with a male assistant coach on the Aztecs’ bench during the heat of the close game.
SDSU appealed, leading to a settlement that will pay Burns and her attorneys approximately $4 million.
Ed Chapin, Burns’ San Diego-based attorney, told the media that “there’s a lesson in this. … Make sure you have your ducks in line and don’t create a pretext for firing someone, because you can get caught and when you do the consequences can be severe, as they were here.”
The California State University system’s general counsel, Catherine Barrad, put the best spin on the situation, telling the media: “This is a situation where, although we are very confident of our chances on appeal, we decided to reach a settlement and move on. … It’s a compromise. It’s something where clearly Coach Burns is ready to put this behind her and we’re ready to move forward as well.”
She continued: “Any time you can get a resolution as opposed to dealing with the uncertainty of going forward, it’s better to try to get a certain outcome,” Chapin said. “There’s a risk when a case is on appeal that a Court of Appeal is going to see the case differently than you see it or the judge saw it. If you can get certainty, then do it. If you can tolerate the price, do it.
“Beth took a reduction in her recovery, and we took a reduction in our fees in this settlement. I think it was the right thing to do, although I’m disappointed that we didn’t get 100 cents on the dollar.”
