Coach Wins $3.35 Million Jury Verdict for Retaliation

Last week we blogged about the trial between San Diego State University and its former women's basketball coach Beth Burns.  Burns was suing on the grounds that she was wrongfully fired from her job and for reasons that involved retaliation for her complaints about gender inequality that affected her team.

By way of update to that earlier post, we learned this week that the jury did not accept the university's argument that Burns was fired for legitimate reasons, and awarded her $3.35 million in damages.

Though we haven't had one on the blog in the last couple of years, this case is part of a broader trend over the last 10 or so years or so, where retaliation proves a successful litigation strategy for coaches who are terminated or face other reprisals on the job. It also seems to be a trend that when coaches win retaliation claims, they win big.