Taylor is suing ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai for "repeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor's reputation and injuring him in his profession."

I suspect Taylor doesn't have much to lose at this point, so he's making a hail Mary attempt to possibly get hired somewhere else in a year or two.

Https://si.com/college-football/troy-taylor-stanford-sues-espn

Eastern Oregon Bear said:

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Taylor is suing ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai for "repeated defamatory statements about Taylor, knowing full well that the statements were false, for the purpose of smearing Taylor's reputation and injuring him in his profession."

I suspect Taylor doesn't have much to lose at this point, so he's making a hail Mary attempt to possibly get hired somewhere else in a year or two.

Https://si.com/college-football/troy-taylor-stanford-sues-espn

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He ain't gonna win. He's a public figure (which comes with less strict rules about defamatory content) and I'm sure the reporter went off allegations and probably portrayed it as such, not declaring that he did this or that. Sounds like a lame lawsuit. He should be happy he is making millions of dollars for not working.

Nice the legal experts have already spoken. All defamation cases have to get over certain hurdles to actually reach a trial. A rather esteemed BI poster (not me) has suggested Taylor has a strong case.

That said, let me suggest the complaint is a good read. It alleges that the fight with the compliance officer was over whether NCAA rules prohibited players from jogging to practice. Taylor was furious that the compliance officer was way to restrictive (and involved in what should be day to day activities in practices IMO). With the NCAA out of the compliance business, I'm a little surprised by the compliance officer's involvement (assuming the complaint is accurate) and it is not then a wonder Stanford football has issues.

The complaint alleges that ESPN with someone inside Stanford was orchestrating Taylor's firings by repeatedly publishing articles based on the same leaked confidential materials. It does allege that the ESPN's commentary from "inside sources" that there were other formal complaints than those that were investigated is false, and that ESPN mischaracterized some of the investigative report findings (which would certainly speak to malice since they had the reports).

Before jumping to any conclusions, we may want to wait for ESPN's response - which could be quite informative assuming they don't respond with a general denial. Because this stuff often plays out in the media, ESPN may feel the need to attack specific allegations in their response. FWIW, Luck's public comments have been that Taylor was fired for team performance reasons.

Where can we find a copy of the complaint?

wifeisafurd said:

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Nice the legal experts have already spoken. All defamation cases have to get over certain hurdles to actually reach a trial. A rather esteemed BI poster (not me) has suggested Taylor has a strong case.

That said, let me suggest the complaint is a good read. It alleges that the fight with the compliance officer was over whether NCAA rules prohibited players from jogging to practice. Taylor was furious that the compliance officer was way to restrictive (and involved in what should be day to day activities in practices IMO). With the NCAA out of the compliance business, I'm a little surprised by the compliance officer's involvement (assuming the complaint is accurate) and it is not then a wonder Stanford football has issues.

The complaint alleges that ESPN with someone inside Stanford was orchestrating Taylor's firings by repeatedly publishing articles based on the same leaked confidential materials. It does allege that the ESPN article starting commentary from "inside sources" that there were other formal complaints than those that were investigated is false, and that ESPN mischaracterized some of the investigative report findings (which would certainly speak to malice since they had the reports).

Before jumping to any conclusions, we may want to wait for ESPN's response - which could be quite informative assuming they don't respond with a general denial. Because this stuff often plays out in the media, ESPN may feel the need to attack specific allegations in their response. FWIW, Luck's public comments have been that Taylor was fired for team performance reasons.

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Collusion between Stanford and ESPN, hmmm was there ever any doubt about this??!? Go Troy Taylor! ESPN is terrible.

I hope Disney and EPSN settle, and Taylor gets something out of it. Besides, money was freed up when they dismissed Shannon Sharpe.

Taylor v ESPN Complaint: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ud8lsr2pd8loc1z5p2ez6/Taylor-v-ESPN-Complaint.pdf?rlkey=2nc5y7etcj0erycp3hnqjjv4w&dl=0

bear2034 said:

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I hope Disney and EPSN settle, and Taylor gets something out of it. Besides, money was freed up when they dismissed Shannon Sharpe.

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I would rather have ALL the dirty laundry paraded to the world. I really do. TT is one man, ESPN and Disney are a super funded corporation that needs to be gutted.