Knight lawyer hopeful for settlement

The attorney for former men's basketball coach Bob Knight said he is optimistic a new president at IU will lead to a settlement in the coach's nearly three-year-old lawsuit against the University.\n"I am hoping we will be able to settle," said Denver-based attorney Russell Yates. "Especially with Myles Brand gone, I feel we will be able to work things out."\nKnight is currently in legal battles with IU after he claimed he lost more than $2 million in media and shoe contracts, camps and endorsements following his firing after he violated IU's zero-tolerance policy.\nCurrently, both sides are in the discovery process of the legal proceedings, which involves gathering information and sharing evidence.\nGiven the history between Brand and Knight, Yates said he feels he will work better with IU's new leader.\n"I strongly believe the next president of IU will be more cooperative," he said. "I think with new leadership, IU will be able to look at things more objectively."\nIU spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said she could not say if IU would settle, given the University's policy to not speak about pending legal issues.\nYates also reacted to the decision of WTHR, a television station in Indianapolis, to air clips of video depositions of Knight and his son Pat in former IU assistant coach Ron Felling's wrongful termination suit.\nKnight fired Felling after he overheard a telephone conversation between Felling and former assistant coach Dan Dakich in which Knight said he was insulted.\nKnight settled his case with Felling out of court.\nWTHR filed suit to obtain the videotaped depositions and broadcasted them last week. Yates said the broadcast was unfair to Knight. \n"We opposed it so strongly because it was a lawsuit between two private individuals," Yates said. "There is no reason for the tapes to be released. It just adds to the voyeuristic nature of news and I feel it was unfair to my clients."\nOn Aug. 27, 2002, Felling's attorney, William C. Potter II, questioned Knight and his son about the firing of Felling, the former IU coach's anger management and his alleged choking of former IU basketball player Neil Reed. \nYates said Potter was unfair in his questioning during the depositions.\n"He asked questions that had nothing to do with the case," he said. "I think he was just out to embarrass Pat Knight."\nWTHR news director Jacques Natz defended his decision to air the depositions, saying the public had a right to know.\n"First of all, it was newsworthy," he said. "Second, Knight is a public figure. And third, public tax dollars were spent. Once public money is spent, it automatically qualifies it newsworthy."\nNatz adds that to deny the public access to the tapes would compromise freedom of the press.\n"I am always going to side with the First Amendment," he said. "I think all legal proceedings should be open to all media and television."\nMarc D. Allan, the TV critic for The Indianapolis Star, said he feels WTHR was justified in airing the tapes.\n"I don't know if it had an enormous amount of news value, but the public sure wanted to know," he said. "It's perfectly fine to cover a public figure and nobody is more public than Knight"