A mistrial was declared Monday during opening arguments in the trial of a lawsuit brought by a fired Penn State football team doctor. The doctor claimed he was fired after complaining to school officials about the pressure on players to return from injury.
Judge Andrew Dowling of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, noted that defense attorneys had withdrawn Penn State football coach James Franklin and Penn State Athletics from a lawsuit brought several years ago by Dr. Scott Lynch. PennLive reported that a mistrial was later declared.
Lynch's lawyer immediately objected, and a closed-door conference was held. The returning judge noted that Franklin and Penn State Athletics had their case dismissed in April 2020, citing filing deadline issues, not the merits of the case. He said references to his dismissal prejudiced the jury.
A new trial is scheduled for May 20, and the defense has vowed to appeal Dowling's ruling.
Mr. Lynch filed a lawsuit in 2019, claiming that repeated conflicts with Mr. Franklin led to him being forced out of his role as Penn State's athletic medicine director and orthopedic consultant for the football team. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the Penn State Department of Health and his former boss.
Before the mistrial, Lynch's attorney Stephen Marino argued that the coach repeatedly tried to interfere with Lynch's medical judgment to return the injured player to the field.
Franklin and Penn State denied these allegations. The Penn State Department of Health claims Lynch was expelled because he does not have a primary residence at the state university and local doctors are better suited to the health and well-being of college athletes.
Defense attorney Sarah Bouchard, who represents the Penn State Department of Health, accused Lynch of harboring a personal animosity toward Franklin, who took over as coach in his second year as team physician. Despite the conflict, Lynch never had his medical decisions overturned, she said.
Bouchard also said Lynch, an orthopedic surgeon, is the director of sports medicine at Penn State Health and earns “more than $500,000 a year.” Marino said Lynch's roles with Penn State football and Penn State athletics “came with a level of prestige” and “brought him into the national spotlight,” which he said was stripped away. Ta. He told jurors they could consider “defamation, humiliation and embarrassment” when calculating damages.
