Thursday, July 24, 2008

GIULIANI v. DUKE UNIVERSITY et al

Durham attorney Bob Ekstrand has filed in the North Carolina Middle District Court a civil lawsuit in behalf of Andrew Giuliani against Duke University. Andrew is a senior in good standing at Duke and was on the Duke Golf team. He is considered a talented US amateur Golfer and is the son of Donna Hanover and Rudy Giuliani.

It is claimed that he was unfairly suspended from the Duke University Golf team, denied his rights to due process, and that Duke University broke the contractual agreement between them.

NATURE OF THE ACTION
"Andrew Giuliani brings this action to obtain a declaration from this Court that Duke University must keep the promises that it makes to induce its students to enroll; and, further, that in all of its dealings with its students, the University is bound to the same law of contract and the same covenant of good faith and fair dealing that every party to a contract in North Carolina is bound. Specifically, this action is brought because:

It is wrongful for a coach to secretly expel a student from a team, in violation of numerous University policies enacted to protect the student.

It is wrongful for a coach to secretly expel a student from a team without notice, without an opportunity to defend himself, and without cause.

It is wrongful for a coach, by threat of expulsion, to attempt to coerce a student into waiving rights guaranteed to him.

It is wrongful for a coach to retaliate against a student who refuses to waive his rights to fairness and basic due process.

It is wrongful for the University’s lawyers to shut down an Athletic Director’s investigation of a student grievance, to conduct a sham investigation, to prevent a student from meeting with his Athletic Director, to insist that a student pursue a “grievance procedure,” and then to vitiate that procedure by publishing false and misleading findings and conclusions based on their “investigation.”

It is wrongful for a coach to set teammates against one another and then delegate to team members the power to expel a teammate who competes with them for limited places on the roster.

Amazingly, Duke University insists that none of these acts is wrongful and that each one is, instead, within its “significant authority.” The purpose of this suit is to establish what common sense and basic morals plainly dictate: each of the acts described above and detailed within is wrongful and must be stopped."
Giuliani lawsuit

The Lawsuit is available here;

GIULIANI v. DUKE UNIVERSITY et al

See Discussion LieStoppers Forum

Sounds like nothing has changed at Duke University when it comes to student's rights.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real issue here is athletic eligibility which Giuliani could then use (any that is remaining) at a graduate institution. By not agreeing to reinstate his eligibility he can not take that with him somewhere else. (There is an issue right now before the NCAA about the eligibility of University of Cincinnati quarterback, Mauk, who had played at Wake before he was injured).

Perhaps this case will cause something more than a pinprick of light to be focused on the dealings of the athletic office at Duke. Did all this not occur under the administration of the now departed Alleva? Those athletes at LSU had better be careful with "joltin Joe" at the helm.

Anonymous said...

Excuse me, but WTF is this frivolous lawsuit doing on the front page of “LieStoppers”???

This kid should be ashamed of himself for filing a lawsuit because he was cut from the golf team. Who does that? I hope the judge gets as good a laugh as I did after reading the complaint. What legal “right” does Andrew have that entitles him to be a member of the Duke golf team?

Anonymous said...

Dear Andrew,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEzpptMv32Q

Anonymous said...

Duke has never seen a pile of shit that it didn't then choose to step in. Wow, they really want to piss off the biggest names they can, don't they?

Anonymous said...

Were I liestoppers (and I'm not anymore) I wouldn't hitch my wagon to this particular horse. Just sayin'

Anonymous said...

“Sounds like nothing has changed at Duke University when it comes to student's rights.”
===========================

So...LieStoppers has taken the position that Andrew’s “rights” were violated by Duke University and O.D. Vincent because he was cut from the golf team?

Sounds like a rush to judgment to me...we have only heard from one side of this case.

Anonymous said...

OK, while I'm certainly no big fan of Duke, you're taking the accusations listed in the lawsuit as all fact. Heck, I don't think even if he had convinced himself of some of it that even Andrew Guiliani thought all of these accusations were 'facts'. He's just leveling as many potential charges as can be even remotely argued in an attempt to show how 'over-reaching' the issues are and give himself the best chances of getting something out of this process.
I don't doubt that he's left with a bad taste in his mouth, and that he had every expectation of still being on the golf team this year, but I seriously doubt that there's any contractual agreement that he had with guaranteed him of such and he's just trying to get as much of that back as possible.

Anonymous said...

The devil is in the details on this one. It appears to be a student due process issue and a reneging of an oral agreement between the former coach and Giuliana that was not honored by the new coach. Giuliana was promised if he came to Duke(non-scholarship)and paid his own way certain he would received certain compensations. Duke appears to have failed to keep the contract.

Coaches can cut players off a team, but they must do it fairly with due process and keep any agreements that were made. Was it fair? I think that is the issue to be decided.

Anonymous said...

If any of you have ever signed a LOI, a scholarship agreement, and the Duke student athlete conduct agreements, you would realize that being retained on the team isn't based in your current ranking on the team. You enter into an agreement with Duke that as long as you maintain a sufficient GPA and making progress toward a degree, don't violate the Duke student athlete rules, and put forth a good faith effort, you maintain your spot.
There are many, many top H.S. athletes that don't improve at the collegiate level for various reasons. For example, injuries, illness, coaching changes, personal issues, academic struggles, being homesick, and so forth. None of these issues give the coach the right to cut the athlete. However, what happens to these kids is that some coaches attempt to find some violation - anything - to try and force the kid from the team. In this case, I think Andrew was very smart for not signing the waiver - many kids break under the pressure and sign.
For those that agree with his dismissal, I would ask why would any lower/middle class student athlete EVER agree to sign with Duke if they could be kicked of the team at the coach's whim? We were very concerned about that particular scenario when my daughter signed with Duke because we couldn't possible afford the 47K annual cost to attend Duke without her scholarship. She could transfer, but that has complications as well. First, you lose friendships with both peers and teammates. Second, you must sit out a year. In my daughter's case, she has already redshirted a year, so would have to give up a year of eligibility. In addition, transferring as a senior would be very difficult because of the potential loss of credits,
What our daughter's coach assured us was that when an athlete is recruited, the coach is taking a gamble. You hope the athlete maintains or improves his/her performance, but there are no guarantees. The Duke student athlete is expected to perform both well in the classroom, put forth a good faith effort in their sport, spend hours performing community service, give up many free weekends hosting recruits, put up with some professors that treat the athletes like second class citizens, and many suffer numerous injuries that involve surgery, months of physical therapy, etc., These are all concepts the athletes understand is part of the package when competing for Duke. I don't think a little mutual respect from the coaching staff and the administration is too much to ask for.
We were assured that as long as a good faith effort was put forth, you will not lose your place on the roster, Apparently this coach wants to cut his roster to six. He has the right to do that, but why not phase it in over a couple years. Many of the current players would have graduated and he could simply limit his recruiting efforts. Why throw your current players under the bus?
From what I understand, the coach also revoked Andrew's NCAA eligibility? If that is the case, Andrew couldn't use his last year of eligibility in grad school. Even if you agree to the roster cut, why revoke his eligibility to play elsewhere?
Coach Myers was a beloved man both at Duke and throughout the country. It appears Alleva's new hire is nothing like Myers. If I were a recruit, I would be very hesitant to sign with a coach that treats his current players so poorly.
I am glad someone with the financial means is attempting to make Duke live up to the agreements that are made to the student athlete during the recruiting process. His suit might benefit athletes in the future that don't have the finances to fight being unfairly treated.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous @ 12:59...

“Duke appears to have failed to keep the contract.”

What contract? The alleged “oral agreement” between Andrew and the late Coach Myers? Without some sort of documentation detailing the alleged contract, it will be impossible to prove that any sort of contract existed, since Coach Myers passed away last year.

Why would you waste a scholarship on the 12th best player on the golf team, anyway? A look at Andrew’s stats reveals one reason for cutting him from the golf team...he wasn’t very good.

As Golfweek points out, Andrew “had a relatively small impact on college golf”...
===========================

“Giuliani, who would have been entering his senior season with the Blue Devils this fall, played in five tournaments in his first three seasons combined, and his performance counted toward the team’s score only twice in those events. The other three times, he played as an individual and was unattached to the team score. (One of those events was The Tom O’Briant Memorial, comprised mostly of Division III teams.)

Giuliani, a walk-on at Duke, did not compete in enough events to be ranked in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings last season and was not considered one of the top 10 players on the Duke golf roster a year ago.

Two of Giuliani’s starts came during his junior campaign under first-year coach O.D. Vincent. Vincent came to Duke from UCLA, where he had been head coach for five years.

Giuliani’s best college finish came during the fall season of his junior year. He tied for 36th at the Olympia Fields Illini Invitational. His career scoring average was 75.75, with a low round of 1-under 71.

In his four tournaments, he compiled a head-to-head won-loss record of 54-235-11 (a .198 winning percentage).”

~snip~

Anonymous said...

To anonymous @ 2:23 PM...

”If any of you have ever signed a LOI, a scholarship agreement, and the Duke student athlete conduct agreements, you would realize that being retained on the team isn't based in your current ranking on the team.”

Andrew did not receive an athletic scholarship to play golf at Duke. He paid $200,000 for tuition...which entitles him to a Duke education. As for the Duke golf team, Andrew was a walk-on.

Andrew’s argument seems to be that no matter how high his scores are or how childish his behavior is, he should be allowed to play for the Duke golf team. I’d like to see one of Coach K’s players say that to him...and see how fast that player’s locker is cleaned out.

This lawsuit is laughable, IMO.

Anonymous said...

With a scoring average like that, Andrew should sue whoever told him he was good enough to play professional golf.

Anonymous said...

Thank you 2:23. You obviously have understanding and insight posters making flippant comments, do not.

I also think the suit is about
"student rights" which continue to seem non-existent for certain students at Duke University.

Parents beware.

Anonymous said...

From Golfweek...

Coaches react to Giuliani’s civil lawsuit

By RON BALICKI and DAN MIROCHA

College coaches contacted by Golfweek about Andrew Giuliani’s civil lawsuit against Duke University and coach O.D. Vincent expressed concern about the potential chilling effect on the role of walk-ons and roster size.

Giuliani petitioned the U.S. District court in North Carolina for unspecified monetary damages and reinstatement to the team for his senior year.

“We’re paid to put the best team out there,’’ Texas A&M coach J.T. Higgins said. “If O.D. believed that (Giuliani) was good enough to win a championship, he would be on that team. If he’s not good enough, then (O.D.) needs to get players who are good enough.”

Kent State’s Herb Page called the lawsuit “mind-boggling,’’ noting that coaches will “have to be very careful what we say, what we do, especially with nonscholarship players.’’

Georgia’s Chris Haack said, “It makes you wonder what you’re promising these kids.’’

Arizona State’s Randy Lein also will be watching the case closely.

“Will it change the way I do things? Probably not,’’ Lein said, “but I’ll just have to wait and see. I like to have big numbers to give everyone an opportunity to develop their game. That’s just me. I know some coaches like smaller numbers. Again, everyone has their own way of doing things.”

Anonymous said...

From the N&O...

Lawyer on Duke's side against Giuliani

From Staff Reports

DURHAM - Duke University, in its legal tangle with the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has an unlikely ally.

Jim Cooney, a Charlotte lawyer who helped defend members of the Duke lacrosse team, is part of the defense team that Duke plans to use to fend off allegations levied in federal court by Andrew Giuliani, a rising Duke senior and former member of the golf team.

~snip~

Anonymous said...

From the N&O...

Lawyer on Duke's side against Giuliani

From Staff Reports

DURHAM - Duke University, in its legal tangle with the son of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has an unlikely ally.

Jim Cooney, a Charlotte lawyer who helped defend members of the Duke lacrosse team, is part of the defense team that Duke plans to use to fend off allegations levied in federal court by Andrew Giuliani, a rising Duke senior and former member of the golf team.

~snip~

Anonymous said...

His father must be so proud.

Andrew’s dad, Rudy, on tort reform.