Every federal district judge in the Baton Rouge area has recused themselves from ruling on high-profile legal proceedings against LSU over allegations of sexual misconduct on campus, and a New Orleans federal district judge has been appointed to take over the cases.
The two lawsuits, filed last month in the Middle District of Louisiana, name LSU and more than a dozen defendants who are affiliated with the university, Athletic Department and Tiger Athletic Foundation.
One of the suits comes from a group of current and former students who say that the university failed to properly comply with federal Title IX laws, which prohibit institutions from discriminating based on sex. The other stems from an Athletic Department employee who alleges that she was retaliated against for complaining about inappropriate behavior from former LSU football head coach Les Miles.
Seven women who have come forward in recent months with stories about being sexually assaulted or beaten on LSU’s campus and then failed by ad…
The chief judge for Louisiana’s Middle District, Shelly Dick, signed orders in both cases May 19 that said, “all the district judges of this Court have been recused from this proceeding.” The Baton Rouge judges who have been recused include Dick, Brian Jackson and John deGravelles.
Dick and Jackson had both previously filed individual recusal notices into the court records, though neither outlined their reasons for stepping off the LSU cases. A Middle District Magistrate Judge, Erin Wilder-Doomes also filed a recusal order for the LSU cases.
Dick’s order that recused the Baton Rouge bench said the LSU cases would be transferred to Judge Susie Morgan of the New Orleans-based Eastern District of Louisiana. Morgan was nominated to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2012.
Morgan's most high-profile case to date involves the New Orleans Police Department's long-running reform agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. She's taken a highly active role in shepherding the once-maligned department toward fixing itself, sometimes dropping in on district stations for personal inspections.
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“My understanding is that our current judge is a well-reasoned jurist, a respected jurist,” said Karen Truszkowski, the Michigan-based attorney who is representing the group of students who filed the Title IX lawsuit against the university. They are pursuing class action status.
A spokeswoman for Sharon Lewis, the LSU Athletic Department’s associate athletic director who filed the retaliation lawsuit against LSU, declined to comment for this story. An LSU spokesman also declined to comment.
Federal judges “shall disqualify” themselves from any proceedings in which their “impartiality might be reasonably questioned,” according to the rules that govern them. However, they are not required to provide details in court records about their reasons for recusing — which can include personal bias, previous employment with lawyers involved in a case, financial interests in a case and more.
“I was expecting an appointment of a judge outside of this district — this is good, at least we have a judge,” said Mary Olive Pierson, the attorney representing two LSU defendants in Truszkowski’s lawsuit.
A chorus of boos rang down as Joe Alleva climbed the stairs in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Morgan took her first action in either LSU case on May 21, court filings show. LSU’s longtime law firm Taylor Porter, a defendant in Lewis’ lawsuit, filed a motion to dismiss Lewis’ claims against the firm on April 29. Morgan ruled that the motion to dismiss became moot when Lewis filed an amended complaint on May 5, but ruled that Taylor Porter could file another claim.
Staff Writer Matt Sledge contributed to this report.
