Appeals court ruling clears way for trial

A decision by the Indiana Court of Appeals Monday might clear the way for a trial to determine whether IU violated state law when it fired former men's basketball coach Bob Knight. \nThe court decided 2-1 not to rule whether IU acted improperly when it fired Knight. The case, filed by a group of Hoosier basketball fans, will be sent back to the court where the appeal originated.\nRoy Graham, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said he was satisfied with the decision.\n"We are pleased with the ruling from the court of appeals," he said. "We can now proceed to trial, unless we win our new motion for summary judgment based on scores of admissions by IU."\nBut a University representative said IU disagreed with the ruling.\n"We're disappointed in the decision by the court of appeals," said George Vlahakis, a spokesman for IU. "We will move forward at the trial court level. We're confident that we will prevail on the merits of the case."\nGojko Kasich, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, said he thinks the decision bodes well for his clients.\n"My interpretation is, for what it's worth, if the court is going to agree with IU, then I think they would have ruled in IU's favor," he said. "They would like to hear more facts."\nThe Knight supporters, who filed the lawsuit last October, allege Brand violated Indiana's Open Door Laws when he fired Knight in September 2000. Knight is now men's basketball head coach at Texas Tech University. Brand consulted with two groups of four trustees before firing the coach.\nThe board of trustees has maintained they did not violate Indiana's Open Door Law in the decision to fire Knight because they met in two small groups that did not constitute a quorum. Kasich said recent rulings in other states fail to support the claim.\nIn August, Special Judge Cecile Blau granted the IU board of trustees' appeal. The appeal cited privacy concerns that if records concerning Knight were released in the course of a trial, confidential and embarrassing information about Knight and IU officials could become public.\nIn an affidavit filed earlier this month, Knight waived his own confidentiality rights to his employment records.\nKasich said case law backs up his assertion that Brand's meetings with the trustees violates state law.\n"We've suggested that rulings in at least six -- maybe more -- states show you can violate Open Door Laws with serial meetings."\nKasich said if the court finds serial meetings do not violate the law, Indiana would be "the first state to go ahead and do that."\n"I'm kind of intrigued to see how (IU) pulls that one off," he said.\nKasich said the next step would be to proceed with discovery. He said he e-mailed the IU counsel Tuesday to inquire what dates IU officials would be available to be deposed.\n"The Open Door Law is something everybody has to follow," said Kasich. "To allow agencies to skirt on the open door law ... is ludicrous. I think it's a very important case"