A federal judge has determined that LSU, aided by attorneys from the Taylor Porter law firm, may have committed a crime a decade ago when they agreed to conceal from the public a sexual harassment complaint and subsequent investigation into former LSU football coach Les Miles.
U.S. Judge Susie Morgan wrote in a March 13 order that the facts surrounding how LSU and Taylor Porter handled the sexual harassment complaint could meet the definition of injuring public records, which is prohibited by state law. Morgan’s order came in a long-running lawsuit between former Associate Athletic Director Sharon Lewis and LSU.
Lewis has alleged that her superiors retaliated against her for trying to report that Miles sexually harassed a student and that they created a hostile work environment. LSU terminated Lewis last year, after she’d filed suit against them.
Miles' attorney has repeatedly denied that he engaged in any misconduct at LSU. The football coach reached a settlement in 2013 with the student who accused him of harassment, though the terms are unknown. Her attorney originally requested $2.15 million from Miles.
Morgan’s order was in response to a request from Lewis’ attorneys for unredacted copies of the student’s complaint against Miles and Taylor Porter’s billing records. Morgan ruled against Lewis on that issue, and instead granted a protective order blanketing the documents that LSU’s Board of Supervisors had requested.
Lewis’ attorneys had argued that while those documents might generally be prevented from release under attorney-client privilege, the privilege does not cover statements meant to carry out an illegal scheme. Morgan analyzed whether the privilege should still apply in her order.
She found that Lewis made an independent prima facie — or “at first look” — case that LSU’s board violated the state’s “second-degree injuring public records” statute, which covers intentional removal or concealment of public records. The statute says such records are required to be preserved in public offices.
Still, Morgan said it was not a high bar.
“The burden of establishing a prima facie case of crime for this purpose in the civil discovery context is not great and is certainly less than the standard that a district attorney or other prosecutor would use in pursuing criminal charges,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Morgan wrote that LSU provided no evidence and made no arguments to rebut her inference about their attempts to conceal public records. She also referenced a document dated May 15, 2013, that laid out the decision to store the Miles investigation off-site.
The memo “is sufficient for the Court to find a purpose of the Board in communicating with Taylor Porter on May 15, 2013, was to further a crime; namely, concealment of a public record to prevent public disclosure of its contents,” Morgan wrote.
An attorney representing the Taylor Porter attorneys who worked with LSU at the time — Bob Barton, Vicki Crochet and Shelby McKenzie — said Friday that they'd each been dismissed from Lewis' lawsuit.
"The recent ruling is not a finding that Taylor Porter violated any law," said their attorney, Brandon Black. "In all instances Taylor Porter has and continues to adhere to the laws applicable to attorney-client privilege, ethical duties to its client and privacy rights applicable to LSU employees and particularly students."
Morgan said the decision on whether to release the unredacted documents also required evidence that the redacted or unreleased information was related to the crime. After reviewing the documents, Morgan said that was not the case.
She said the redactions in the student’s complaint and investigation were personal identifiers of students and privileged legal advice.
“The Court finds no reasonable relationship exists between the redacted legal advice and the crime of injuring a public record,” Morgan ruled.
An LSU spokesperson did not respond to a message Friday.
Lewis’ federal case is tentatively scheduled for trial May 22.
She also filed claims against LSU in state court, most of which have been dismissed. A state judge also imposed more than $330,000 in sanctions on her attorneys, saying they filed frivolous claims. Larry English, her lead attorney, has appealed.
