When the UNM football team returns from its so-called company retreat in Ruidoso, Mike Locksley might want to consider chartering a flight and booking a separate vacation.
Not only will Locksley have to contend with the day-to-day managerial pressures of coaching a team that went 1-11 last year, but awaiting him when he and his team return from an 11-day practice excursion in the mountainous town are the stresses associated with a long-expected lawsuit, stemming from a Sept. 20 altercation with now estranged wide receivers coach J.B. Gerald.
A week after New Mexico-based attorney Dennis Montoya filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on behalf of the former wide receivers coach, alleging Gerald was assaulted, discriminated and retaliated against, Locksley and UNM’s Board of Regents were served with the complaint and summons, Montoya said in an e-mail Aug. 7.
The summons put Locksley on notice that he is being sued. The defendant(s) then have to either appear in court or acknowledge in writing the opposing party’s intention to sue. Montoya said both Locksley and the University have 20 days to respond, putting the date at or around Aug. 27.
Montoya said UNM trivialized the incident because of racial factors.
As of July 31, UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said the University had not received a copy of Gerald’s complaint but would “vigorously defend itself and its employees against these claims.” In dismissing Gerald’s allegations, the University added that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s investigation failed to uncover evidence that it violated that law.
Montoya responded to the assertion with contention.
“EEOC investigations can be very superficial,” he said. “The EEOC determination is not admissible in court. In court, we start everything anew.”
Whether this case will actually see the light of a court room is entirely another question. Given the timing, the lawsuit looks like a strategic ploy aimed at pressuring the University into possibly entertaining settlement discussions, with fall training camp underway.
For several months after the alleged altercation, Gerald’s legal camp was reticent about the matter, other than sending a demand letter drafted by Gerald’s former Maryland-based attorney Julian Haffner, requesting $500,000 that was subsequently denied.
On some level, the University might have anticipated Gerald’s attorney to take this course of action and shifted the Lobos’ camp to Ruidoso from Aug. 10-21 to provide insulation from a cascade of media scrutiny, though Athletics Director Paul Krebs has stated publicly that the move is financially motivated.
UNM is projected to spend $95,555 on this year’s fall training camp, with $20,000 allocated toward incurred Albuquerque expenses, while the rest will go toward expenses associated with the trip to Ruidoso, according to documents obtained by the Daily Lobo under the Inspection of Public Records Act.
The past two years, the Lobos’ training camp budget exceeded the six-figure mark, with UNM shelling out $121,847 in 2009 and $106,172 in 2008, according to documents provided by UNM’s Office of the Custodian of Public Record. By comparison, the change of venue could save UNM a minimum of about $10,000.
Of course, that could change, just as the University’s stance on Gerald’s lawsuit. To date, however, Montoya said neither party has approached the other about settling.
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Going as far as hinting at a possible trial, Montoya said Athletics personnel, staff, and former and current coaches could be called to testify. He said Locksley was given special treatment because he was Gerald’s superior and he hired him.
“If UNM is righteously indignant and treats this as some sort of nuisance lawsuit, then I don’t think we’ll settle,” Montoya said. “… The trend is toward zero tolerance for violence in the workplace. We think that is exhibited more often than not. That certainly wasn’t the approach that was taken by UNM in this case.”
Instead, University Human Resources launched a probe into the matter, yet was unable to determine whether Locksley choked or punched Gerald, only that Locksley grabbed him by the collar. As part of the findings, Locksley was given a 10-day, unpaid suspension.
Yet the announcement did little to quash the vitriolic tone across campus, and later UNM called a news conference to vet the Locksley issue, whereupon President David Schmidly disclosed that Shannon Garbiso, Athletics HR representative, had destroyed original copies of her handwritten notes. Incomplete copies of her notes seemed to corroborate Gerald’s allegations.
That detail is not lost to Montoya, who contends that the incident would not have been mishandled if there weren’t mitigating racial dynamics. To prove racial discrimination, Montoya will have to establish an adverse employment action, which he said is the University’s failure to provide a safe working environment.
When pressed, Montoya said he’s confident he will be able to show that Gerald was discriminated against.
“Race discrimination exists in the mind of the perpetrator,” Montoya said. “It almost always becomes a question for the jury to decide for itself. The jury’s going to have to take the evidence in this case and peer into the minds of the University administrators that were involved and determine whether Gerald’s race was a (factor).”
Outside of the facts of the case, Montoya’s own legal woes could come into play if the issue is not put to bed quickly.
Back in April, Montoya, who ran for judge in the State Court of Appeals in the Democratic primary against Linda Vanzi, was charged with professional misconduct by the Disciplinary Board. The board approached the State Supreme Court about suspending Montoya’s law license, according to a May 5 Albuquerque Journal article. In the end, however, the State Supreme Court chose not to revoke Montoya’s license, but there is still an ongoing investigation into the allegations.
While attributing the charges to a political quandary, Montoya said he will be vindicated once the investigation runs its course.
“I am not proceeding under any assumption that I am not going to continue to practice law in the state of New Mexico for many years to come,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any reason to for me to assume that I will not be able to represent Coach Gerald to the end of his case.”
A version of this story appeared online on July 31.
