A Mississippi judge on Thursday dismissed a $40 million lawsuit against Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin brought by a former player.
Rebels defensive tackle DeSanto Rollins filed a lawsuit in September alleging denial of equal protection, racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and more.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills dismissed Rollins’ Americans with Disabilities Act and negligence claims against the school and Kiffin without prejudice, meaning they could be re-filed. The remainder of the case was dismissed with prejudice.
Rollins, who is Black, says Kiffin discriminated against him on racial and sexual lines after Rollins told Kiffin he was taking a mental health break from the team. The suit argued Kiffin and Ole Miss treated white and female athletes that took mental leaves differently than Rollins.
Ole Miss contends that Rollins remains on scholarship -- he's on the Rebels' online roster as of this writing.
The pivotal moment in the case in February 2023. According to the case, Rollins was told he was moving from defensive line to the scout offensive line shortly after the death of his grandmother.
Rollins later recorded a meeting with Kiffin in which Kiffin berated the player for refusing to meet with him over multiple weeks last February and March.
“OK, you have a f—ing head coach, this is a job, guess what, if I have mental issues and I’m not diminishing them, I can’t not see my f—ing boss,” Kiffin said, according to the lawsuit. “When you were told again and again the head coach needs to see you, wasn’t to make you practice, wasn’t to play a position you don’t f—ing want to, OK, it was to talk to you and explain to you in the real world, OK, so I don’t give a f— what your mom says, OK, or what you think is the real f—ing world you show up to work, and then you say hey I have mental issues, OK.”
“Although Kiffin’s conduct in the meetings was certainly offensive and imprudent, it is more akin to immature insults and indignities than to behavior going ‘beyond all possible bounds of decency,'" Mills ruled.
The suit sought $10 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages.
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