Big Settlement in Fresno

Fresno State has agreed to a $3.5 million settlement to end plaintiff Diane Milutinovich's sex discrimination case against the University. Milutinovich is one of three female, former athletic department employees who argue that they lost their positions -- in Milutinovich's case, transferred outside the department where she had been the senior women's administrator -- in retaliation for their advocacy for gender equity. Fresno State is challenging the $5.85 million verdict awarded to plaintiff Lindy Vivas this summer, while the trial of former basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein began this week with early rounds of jury selection.

Milutinovich's lawyer attributes the $3.5 million figure to the strength of her case. State Senator Dean Florez, who is leading efforts to strengthen Title IX enforcement in California, views the settlement of further evidence of a pattern of discrimination at Fresno State.