Woman who accused former Michigan State football coach of sexual harassment files intent to sue him and the schoo

Sport 14 March, 2024 19:34

A woman who accused Michigan State University’s then-head football coach Mel Tucker of sexual harassment intends to sue him, the school and others for tens of millions of dollars in damages, according to new legal filings.

Rape survivor and advocate Brenda Tracy is set to sue Tucker, MSU, its board of trustees and a dozen other unnamed people for $75 million over allegations that Tucker sexually harassed her, that the school failed to properly investigate her claims of Tucker’s misbehavior, and that “a yet-to-be identified MSU affiliated party” inappropriately leaked her identity to the news media, according to a notice of intent to sue filed in a Michigan court on Wednesday.

Karen Truszkowski, Tracy’s attorney, declined to comment when reached by CNN on Wednesday.

Tracy filed a complaint with MSU’s Title IX office in December 2022 alleging Tucker made sexual comments and masturbated during an April 2022 phone call with her, according to USA Today, which broke the story last September.

“The idea that someone could know me and say they understand my trauma but then re-inflict that trauma on me is so disgusting to me, it’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around it,” Tracy told USA Today at the time. “It’s like he sought me out just to betray me.”

MSU fired Tucker on September 27, weeks after USA Today reported he was under investigation.

“While I am saddened by Ms. Tracy’s disclosure of the sensitive nature of this call, let me be perfectly clear – it was an entirely mutual, private event between two adults living at opposite ends of the country,” Tucker said in a statement that CNN obtained on September 11.

Tracy intends to file two suits against Tucker, MSU and the other parties – one under her name for $50 million, and a second under her non-profit “Set The Expectation” for $25 million, according to the court papers. Those papers say she has the potential to sue on more than 20 different claims, including intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of duty of confidentiality.