Jury Rejects Age Discrimination Claim Against St. Louis Rams

[jjab360]

You mean except for the possibility that he really was? I think it's pretty easy to conceive. Fire the equipment manager that has been there for that many years and not really give a reason? That's a real WTF moment and it happened at a time IIRC that not a whole lot else was going on. For me it was a real jump the shark moment in hind sight. You don't expect the jackals in the press to jump all over that? Bernie has such skewed penis envy it ain't funny. I would expect nothing else.

What reason does the head coach have to give to the media for not renewing the contract of his equipment manager? And even if he did, I'm pretty sure there would be some violation of a nondisclosure agreement or something of the like if he had, not to mention adding insult to injury by badmouthing a guy you just fired.

 

[RamFan503]

What reason does the head coach have to give to the media for not renewing the contract of his equipment manager? And even if he did, I'm pretty sure there would be some violation of a nondisclosure agreement or something of the like if he had, not to mention adding insult to injury by badmouthing a guy you just fired.

I wouldn't discount that at all. Just not sure but it still seems kind of odd to me. Nothing more. I wouldn't jump to any conclusion based on the media's reaction.

 

[Ram Quixote]

You want an example of a leak that hurt the Rams? IIRC, in the 2009 Draft, the Rams seemed interested in Shonn Greene, but the Jets moved ahead of them. Now, if the Rams thought this was the result of a leak, say to a local media hack, when they thought they had concealed their interest, perhaps they convinced themselves that they needed to tighten their security on media sources. Hewitt telling Spags that he'd continue doing things the way he always did could have been construed as insubordination on those security issues. Of course, this also lines up the the control freak aspect of Spags.

 

[Sum1]

The natural question then is why wouldn't he be offered the job back once Spags left.

The main reason I find it curious is that all the P-D folks tried to make it a huge deal out of this supposedly because of tradition and all that... even though Jeff Gordon, in one of his previous chats, essentially said "Why should I care about the Los Angeles history of the Rams? I'm a St. Louis guy." Hewitt being a locker room leak answers that question.

But, as I said, you're decided on this no matter what I (and others, even if they haven't chimed in here yet) say. So all we can do is agree to disagree and see if his lawsuit ever results in anything. I don't think it will.

For one, Todd had already moved on to another job.
Secondly, the Rams already had him replaced. It wouldn't exactly be fair to kick the new guy to the curb who had nothing to do with the situation.

Hey, it's not like I'm calling up Todd to go have lunch. If we bumped into each other I'd likely have to introduce myself to him. I played ball with his oldest son and spoke with him while I was in high school at practices, games, banquets, etc.

 

[Boffo97]

For one, Todd had already moved on to another job.
Secondly, the Rams already had him replaced. It wouldn't exactly be fair to kick the new guy to the curb who had nothing to do with the situation.

Hey, it's not like I'm calling up Todd to go have lunch. If we bumped into each other I'd likely have to introduce myself to him. I played ball with his oldest son and spoke with him while I was in high school at practices, games, banquets, etc.

I figured he was at another job... but if the Rams after-Spags really thought the way you describe, one would think "If you ever need a job, we'll rehire you in an instant" or such.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Same here after I first read the headline. I googled for any information on Todd Hewitt's age discrimination lawsuit and found nothing any earlier than 2012. It makes me wonder if the case has been dropped, dismissed by a judge, or settled in private.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7...sues-st-louis-rams-alleges-age-discrimination

May 31, 2012

Longtime St. Louis Rams equipment manager Todd Hewitt is suing the team, alleging he was fired last year due to age discrimination.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in St. Louis County names the St. Louis Rams Partnership and three other Rams entities and seeks unspecified damages.

"There's strong evidence that Todd was terminated by the Rams despite fabulous performance over the years because of his age," Hewitt's attorney, Mary Anne Sedey, said Thursday.

A Rams spokeswoman declined comment.

Sorry to bring this thread back up but I asked about this in the current Spagnuolo thread.

I also googled this law suit and found nothing after 2012.

Sum1 seems to be good friends with the Hewitt family... maybe he knows?

I'd love to know, because - at least to me - it would lend credence to what Hewitt asserted (wrongful dismissal).

 

[Stranger]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_48fb77da-12f6-5408-8a2d-7bebdf07e0a2.html

Jury rejects age discrimination claim against St. Louis Rams
By Robert Patrick rpatrick@post-dispatch.com 314-621-5154

ST. LOUIS • A federal jury on Friday found in favor of the St. Louis Rams and against a woman who claimed she was forced out because of her age.

Lory Fabian, 56 at the time, sued the Rams and associated companies in 2012, claiming that she was one of a series of older employees who lost out to “young, inexpensive grinders” who were just starting out in their careers.

In closing arguments in the case Friday morning, lawyer Bradley Winters rejected those claims, saying that Fabian was simply not re-hired when her contract ended in 2011. She wasn't, he told jurors, because of performance issues and the way she dealt with co-workers, starting feuds and refusing to work with one employee.

The Rams loaned Fabian $20,000, interest free, and even allowed her to design her dream job, he said.

Fabian lawyer Edward Kruse said older employees were replaced with interns and that Fabian loved her job and performed it well.

A sexual harassment claim was tossed out by a judge before trial.

Robert Patrick covers federal courts and federal law enforcement for the Post-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter: @rxpatrick.
-----------------------------------
“young, inexpensive grinders” WTH?

Whatever happened to the head equipment guy that Spags fired.... didn't he also sue the organization.

 

[iced]

That's his side of the story.

Plus, even if Spags was a control freak (and all coaches are to a degree), SO WHAT? Hewitt was an EQUIPMENT MANAGER. Unless Spags wanted to send the team out naked, an EQUIPMENT MANAGER should NEVER be butting heads with the HEAD COACH.

spags was a different level of control freak

 

[thirteen28]

If anyone ever takes a chance on Spags as a HC again, they need to severely limit his power and not let him have control/authority over anything non-football related. Nobody wants to spend their time and money defending cases like this, which there seems to be a number of them in the wake of Spags tenure. I'm sure any other prospective team that would hire Spags for a HC job will take this into consideration.

 

[Blue and Gold]

If anyone ever takes a chance on Spags as a HC again, they need to severely limit his power and not let him have control/authority over anything non-football related. Nobody wants to spend their time and money defending cases like this, which there seems to be a number of them in the wake of Spags tenure. I'm sure any other prospective team that would hire Spags for a HC job will take this into consideration.

Agreed. For one, I hope Spags does well in NY, except when they play Rams, and I think he will. I wanted Spags as HC, I bought into the hot commodity he was. However, he did not deserve the power he was given and was able to negotiate for as that "hot" new property. He did not have the gavitas of a Bill Parcells or a Bill Walsh or even a John Fox or Fisher. He'd never been a HC on any level, high school, college or pro.

And contrary to people who have not been around a football team, equipment manager, PR director, head trainer are big positions. And football is not corporate America, loyalty is big and these guys were all loyal to the Rams and had proven so over decades in the NFL. And i get that perspective from scores of people who are in or have been in the NFL, vested people. So if someone says these decisions are the same as when IBM lays of long-time workers due to business slumps are really missing the unique situation professional sports is in.

These long-term employees have proven themselves under many regimes, many coaches and GMs and survuve because they can get along with any of them. That is why it's very, very, very (yes, 3 varies) rare to see one of them ever fired like that. And to have a bunch by one coach at the same time. Please. It was Spags being a control freak off-the-field. And that coming on the back of Linny who had anger management issues and was slightly paranoid . .. led to a bad situation.

Again, I wanted Spags and then I knew he had to go. I liked Martz, but in 2005 he had to go. Both deserved to get fired.

 

[Robocop]

typical. this is America so everyone thinks they're entitled. country's biggest problem.

 

[Sum1]

Sorry to bring this thread back up but I asked about this in the current Spagnuolo thread.

I also googled this law suit and found nothing after 2012.

Sum1 seems to be good friends with the Hewitt family... maybe he knows?

I'd love to know, because - at least to me - it would lend credence to what Hewitt asserted (wrongful dismissal).

I wouldn't say I'm "good friends"...run into his oldest son from time to time but probably haven't even crossed paths with him since the last time I posted on this.

 

[Rmfnlt]

I wouldn't say I'm "good friends"...run into his oldest son from time to time but probably haven't even crossed paths with him since the last time I posted on this.

I'm thinking it didn't come up but.... did you ever hear of any verdict or outcome to that suit?

 

[Sum1]

I'm thinking it didn't come up but.... did you ever hear of any verdict or outcome to that suit?

No...the last time I saw him had to have been within a year of Todd Hewitt getting fired.

 

[den-the-coach]

Frivolous lawsuits gotta love them! There was a time that being a Lawyer was an honorable profession no offense to our very own counselor @jrry32 who will try to put the honor back in.

 

[jrry32]

Frivolous lawsuits gotta love them! There was a time that being a Lawyer was an honorable profession no offense to our very own counselor @jrry32 who will try to put the honor back in.

I wouldn't assume because she lost that it was necessarily frivolous. None of us have the facts here. Could just be that the jury didn't find her credible or found the witnesses on behalf of the Rams to be more credible.

Trials are always pretty unpredictable. But if it got to trial, I would expect that it likely was not frivolous. Because there are ways of resolving a case before trial that generally allows frivolous lawsuits to be tossed.

Just saying.(not that I'm an objective observer)

 

[Dodgersrf]

I wouldn't assume because she lost that it was necessarily frivolous. None of us have the facts here. Could just be that the jury didn't find her credible or found the witnesses on behalf of the Rams to be more credible.

Trials are always pretty unpredictable. But if it got to trial, I would expect that it likely was not frivolous. Because there are ways of resolving a case before trial that generally allows frivolous lawsuits to be tossed.

Just saying.(not that I'm an objective observer)

I've seen 2 frivolous lawsuits win in the company that employs me.
Even in a "work at will" state like CA, employees are heavily guarded by the state.
2 disgruntled employees were released do to illegal activities. They still won. It was

At my Spa a contractor tried to take me to court for discrimination. I had 4 pages of documentation that quickly discredited her claims. It was dropped.

Every employee should be documented for violating any rule in the workplace.
It's not fun, but always the safest practice to protect from lawsuits.
Even then it's no guarantee.

 

[thirteen28]

Agreed. For one, I hope Spags does well in NY, except when they play Rams, and I think he will. I wanted Spags as HC, I bought into the hot commodity he was. However, he did not deserve the power he was given and was able to negotiate for as that "hot" new property. He did not have the gavitas of a Bill Parcells or a Bill Walsh or even a John Fox or Fisher. He'd never been a HC on any level, high school, college or pro.

And contrary to people who have not been around a football team, equipment manager, PR director, head trainer are big positions. And football is not corporate America, loyalty is big and these guys were all loyal to the Rams and had proven so over decades in the NFL. And i get that perspective from scores of people who are in or have been in the NFL, vested people. So if someone says these decisions are the same as when IBM lays of long-time workers due to business slumps are really missing the unique situation professional sports is in.

These long-term employees have proven themselves under many regimes, many coaches and GMs and survuve because they can get along with any of them. That is why it's very, very, very (yes, 3 varies) rare to see one of them ever fired like that. And to have a bunch by one coach at the same time. Please. It was Spags being a control freak off-the-field. And that coming on the back of Linny who had anger management issues and was slightly paranoid . .. led to a bad situation.

Again, I wanted Spags and then I knew he had to go. I liked Martz, but in 2005 he had to go. Both deserved to get fired.

Vulcan mind meld. Agree with every word of your post, right down to the end of the last line.