Enough from the wannabe lawyers.
1. At the beginning of a civil court case, the defendant will be at a slight advantage. That’s because legally they don’t have to say or do anything. The defendant has nothing to prove. The plaintiff filed the lawsuit, so the burden is on the plaintiff to prove their case. The defendant participates by countering the evidence the plaintiff offers and possibly by presenting some of their own. Basically, it's not the same as a presumption of innocence, but the burden is still on the plaintiff to prove that they were harmed in some way. So, in some ways the defendant does have somewhat of a presumption of innocence -- if both parties walk into court and say absolutely nothing the case is getting dismissed which basically means the defendant wins.
2. Most civil trials are decided by a judge not a jury. Because juries get too wrapped up in the emotions while judges are better at applying the law. So, no, it most likely would not end up in the hands of someone who wasn't "clever enough" to get out of jury duty.
3. I think the point most people are trying to make, and that some who aren't seeing the big picture are missing is this (and it happens often in high profile civil trials) -- one party puts out a bunch of salacious details for which they may or may not have proof and people who read about it in newspapers get wrapped up in those details and form a strong opinion about the case. Meanwhile, the other party doesn't bother trying the case in the media, because they know that A) there is no point because the other side's story is already ingrained in some people's minds, and B) they only need to convince the judge (because it's likely not going in front of a jury) who will understand how to consider facts and relevant evidence vs headline-worthy details for which there is zero proof.
4. The law firm hired by the U of A to investigate these sexual harassment claims came up with nothing. To the people who think this doesn't matter, let me point this out to you -- they really WANTED to find something. The athletic department could have saved $6M if they did. This wasn't a sham investigation just so they could say they looked into it and found nothing so they could keep their coach. No, they wanted to fire him already and would have LOVED to do it with cause. And if you've read the notice of claim (
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4343302/Notice-of-Claim-vs-Rich-Rodriguez.pdf) you would know that many of the things claimed in it could easily be proven up to a level sufficient to fire someone with cause. Cell phone records and corroboration by witnesses would have been enough to fire Rich Rod with cause, yet this law firm apparently couldn't that even though the university really wanted them to.
5. ANYTIME someone stops cooperating with a non-criminal investigation and then files a civil suit demanding a great deal of money you should be very suspicious of them. I'm not saying this means the woman is lying, I am just saying that is an absolute classic move of someone who plans to file a big lawsuit and then settle it for a decent chunk of money.
6. Seriously, read the notice of claim. Parts of it are hard not to laugh at.
"Melissa’s prior marriage ended over ten years ago; she was both cheated upon and physically abused.
Understandably, this left her with trust issues that kept her from getting close to anyone until she met Jason. But shortly after the two were married, Rodriguez began to drive a wedge between them using his position of ultimate authority to make Melissa his servant. Melissa’s trust issues from her prior marriage resurfaced and she tried to weather the storm by putting up a wall to protect herself. But the same wall kept Jason away, at least temporarily. Time will tell if a fresh start for both of them can heal the damage that has been done.
Jason, a former Marine and DEA agent, feels emasculated by what Rodriguez has done to his wife. For as long as he can remember, Jason has seen himself as a protector of the innocent and helpless who was always willing to put himself in harm’s way to save those who couldn’t save themselves. He didn’t realize that Melissa needed saving, until it was too late. When he sees what has happened to Melissa, he sees it as his own failure to be a man. Rodriguez has taken this away from Jason, perhaps forever."
That is from an actual legal document filed with the state of Arizona, but I swear I've read something very similar on the back of one of those romance novels near the checkout line at the grocery store.
