Trustees to discuss Knight's most recent lawsuit

The IU board of trustees will meet tonight to discuss Bob Knight's lawsuit filed in Monroe County Court last week.\nThe meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. in Myles Brand's residence Bryan Hall, is closed to the public because it concerns personnel matters.\nKnight is suing IU for $2 million as a result of his firing in Sept. 2000. The suit, filed by the law firm of Voyles, Zahn, Paul, Hogan and Merriman in Indianapolis, claims he would have received $2 million from his "non-enumerated" shoe contracts, radio and TV deals and basketball camp fees if he had not been fired. The suit also claims IU could only fire Knight if he were notified and given an opportunity to defend himself, which Knight claims did not occur. \nAt the meeting, the board of trustees will discuss the issue and what actions they can take in this matter.\n"To my understanding, we will discuss litigation, specifically with recent developments with the Knight case," trustee Jamie Belanger said. "This meeting will probably serve more as a briefing as to what we can do as trustees." \nBelanger said he is not sure what actions the board is allowed to take in issues of litigation, but it will be discussed as a part of the executive meeting. \nIn order to decide the board's next plan of action, different members will present their plans, but it still is not confirmed whether legal representation from either side will be present at the meeting. Belanger noted IU's legal team has spoken at previous meetings.\n"We have had representatives from IU at certain meetings," Belanger said "But we have not really discussed the case with lawyers yet."\nThe last decision the board made in the Knight case was at their last meeting and involved deciding not to continue extending the deadline for Knight to file suit against IU. Belanger said an inability to compromise on both sides was the motivation in not continuing to extend the deadline. \n"They simply weren't reaching an agreement," Belanger said. \nBoard of trustees President Frederick Eichhorn said the board could not continue to extend the deadline and action needed to be taken.\n"All things come to an end," Eichhorn said. "It is not saying we can't still work things out."\nBoth Eichhorn and Belanger could not say whether or not a settlement out of court is likely or not, but they said it is still an option IU is considering.\n"It is always an option," Eichhorn said. "But it'll depend on the terms for both sides as to whether or not we settle out of court."\nPreviously, IU offered to pay the sum if Knight would convince a coalition of 46 former students to drop their suit against IU for violating the state's open records laws. In addition, IU is still paying Knight more than $425,000 a year for the next eight years as a part of the deferred compensation package.