What was the deal on the Anson Durrance suit ? (merged thread)

Suposedly NOW has been looking into why it never went to court.

 

I assume this is the Debbie Keller matter?

 

Yep.

So much for a speedy trial, eh?

 

What happened to that Sex Harassment Lawsuit against Dorrance & UNC?

I haven't heard anything in a long time but didn't two former players, a star forward (Keller?) and a backup keeper, sue Anson Dorrance & UNC for sexual harassment. The reason I ask is that I just read an Soccer America article mentioning Dorrance as a possible candidate for the Stanford job. I would assume Stanford (with its past problems) wouldn't go near Dorrance unless he was definitively cleared in the prior case. Any news?

 

agree

I was thinking the exact same thing. Anson isn't leaving Carolina and I am sure the thought of having to answer to all that in the media will deter him from even considering it. You know it would come up all over again.

 

First, let me softly nudge the mods to graft this thread onto the existing one about Anson and Stanford.

Second, I agree that it's unlikely Anson will ever leave UNC. First, there's team loyalty. It seems he's the Joe Paterno of WSoc. Second, I agree with the popular idea that Anson needs to prove his innocence before SU would outright take him.

I'm really anxious for this suit to be resolved. I'm not sure who I believe at this point.

 

My thoughts exactly, jack 921!!

 

Maybe I'm crazy or somethin...but why would Anson ever leave Carolina? He's like a frickin god there!

 

Threads merged.

I too am thinking that Dorrance won't leave UNC. If he goes somewhere else, he won't have the success he's had at UNC.

 

suit against anson

My recollection of all this is hazy, but here are some of the things i remember.

the suit was brought by Debbie Keller and a back-up goalkeeper that had been a friend of Debbie's in high school. there seemed to be something odd about the goalkeeper's coming to unc all along: she was at least 20 pounds over-weight, did not seem like a serious player, and, i always thought, was brought in as a courtesy to Debbie.

it is my understanding that the goalkeeper and her family had filed a similar suit against a high school coach.

the list of particulars Anson was accused of was bizaare. it included such things as asking the goalkeeper for some sum of money (e.g., $300) on a trip to buy bottled water, food, or something similar. i believe he was also accused of putting his arm around Debbie on some occasion, but i believe it was as in walking across the field in a friendly, encouraging manner.

at the time the suit first got rolling, i beleive Anson was pressured to appologize for some of the accusiations, such as borrowing the money, and i believe he did.

in sum, this whole thing just does not ring true to me. Anson has been around young women for 20 years. i don't think the kind of behavior he is accused of would be an isolated incidient. if it were true, there would have been other accusations or they would come out now a la the Catholic clergy. this did not happen. in fact, a very large group of his former players wrote a statement denying such behavior and endorsing him.

it's my personal belief this whole thing is motivated by Debbie's disappointment at being dropped from the national team pool after she left unc and who-knows-what motivation of a "hanger-on" and her family who has the money to bring suit and who had (apparently) done something similar before. unfortunately, it's the kind of tarring that can never be disproved.

 

http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1812340p-1810864c.html

 

For the record, my personal opinion is that she was motivated by wanting to stand up for what is right and prevent others from having to go through what she went through. And although the suit has not gone forward, she probably has accomplished her goal because one can assume that Dorrance would be motivated to be prudent in his future behavior and expressions of affection toward team members. As far as I recall he does not deny many or most of the specifics - such as the letters.

In my opinion the letters to Keller were inappropriate from a coach to a young player. They seem to be trying to skate as close to the line as possible of conveying romantic affection while retaining deniability. I would expect that their tone is beyond his usual communications with players at that time. From his own quotes at the time, Keller was special to him, and so I personally see how it could have been a relatively isolated situation. I can see why this sort of suggestive communication from a coach could be very disturbing to a young player. That is just my personal view.

 

Interesting article. The tone of the letter and his alledged comments give me the creeps. It's hard for me to believe she gave it all up over fantasies, and she had to have known she would lose it all. That in itself has always made me suspicious about him. Then the long delay--I mean you have to wonder. Let's face it, what would UNC soccer be without him?

 

i don't know. i know Anson and he is just a touchy person. he likes to get to know people. he is cool though.

 

thanks for the link H2

I think the key quote from the article is as follows:

Keller said Dorrance did not make an overt pass at her or ask for a sexual relationship.

Now as to the letters, Anson writes a lot of notes to his players. Surely some others can and will produce notes that say Anson cares for them and they never thought it was inappropriate or unusual.

Anso is a very warm person who considers all of his players, former and current, to be family ( as well as the family of the players to be family).

I think Debbie mistook the use of the word intimate. My dictionary lists six definitons. The more common ( and therefore listed first) is "known very well, closely acquainted". The sixth and last meaning is "illicit sexual relations".

Now the way Debbie felt and what Anson meant can very properly be two distinct things. I think the legal questions did any of this rise to the level of creating an illegal harrassing environment.

 

Huh?

 

Any lawyers out there?

In a sexual harassment case, which is more important: the intent of the charged, or how violated the alleged victim feels?

 

Re: thanks for the link H2

Thanks for posting the article.

Presumably this is true. Forgetting about the legal side, her story is pretty sad for both sides. Looking back, it's too bad that Debbie didn't feel she could raise this with other members of the team, but you can understand a young women who was afraid of disrupting the team environment. But if she had raised it and learned that Dorrance sent these notes to others, then perhaps she would have found his notes less personnally threatening (even though she still would have been uncomfortable with them).

It shows that a coach has to be very careful. Even if his/her behavoir is acceptable for 95% of the players, there may be one who is offended and even traumatized by the behavoir. And you can't assume that the one player will let the coach know they're not comfortable. In this case, Debbie was the star of the team and the best player in the country, and she wasn't even able to bring it up with the other players, much less the coach.

 

Since her own statement is that no quid pro quo harassment occurred, then she has to be complaining of a hostile environment.

Here is a definition I found that explains it.

Hostile environment harassment occurs when unwelcome sexually harassing conduct is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it affects a student's ability to participate in or benefit from an education program or activity, or creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment.

 

upper 90

You give a vibe of supporting Anson. Which is fine. But to try to even conjecture based on a few quotes in a newspaper article is unfair. You know there are stacks and stacks of paper that contain information about this case in the legal documents. We do not know anything and it is silly to try to condemn one and support the other when we truly have no clue. That is what the legal system is for.

 

Re: Runbaby

Put me down as on Anson's side. I have made my own analysis of the facts available to me and read the law. I said before when this topic came up before (when we did not have Debbie's own statements) that she has the burden of proof and I think she has an enormous hill to climb. Now I have her own statements to consider which removed (for me) the concern.

There really are not stacks and stacks of paper. The complaint she filed is a matter of public record which you can access online thru the federal court system.

For the record, I condemned no one. I feel sorry for Debbie. I also feel sorry for Anson, Chris, Bill and Tracey who all were named in the suit and all must hate having to deal with this mess.

No conjecture either. Law is two pronged. Either quid pro quo, or hostile environment. Her own words say it most definitely was not quid pro quo. That leaves hostile environment.

The most recent activity is State of NC motion to dismiss this case. I think that is more likely than not to occur.

 

To answer to the legal question:

Sexual assault refers to any sexual act without the explicit consent of the recipient of the behavior. In the most extreme cases, this may involve force. Consent shall be defined as the act of willingly and verbally agreeing to engage in specific sexual contact or conduct. Psychologically pressuring an individual or any attempt to take advantage of an individual under duress or incapable of making a decision on his or her own is a direct violation of the policy. This includes situations in which an individual is under the influence of alcohol, drugs and/or prescribed medications. Force may include, but is not limited to, the use of or display of a weapon, physical battering or immobilization of the other person.


You all live in a very sheltered world if you truly believe that Anson was not in the wrong in this situation. From a legal side, if you have a client that doesn't want his reputation ruined and someone brings a lawsuit, you go to court and get it thrown out based on a lack of evidence. That situation does not exist in this case. Anson committed a majority of the acts that are alleged and the UNC lawyers have held this up in court in order to bankrupt the plaintiff’s legal team and her personally.

Questions that his lawyers would have to keep out of court:

Have you ever had sex with a player that was in a coach/player relationship?

Have you ever made a comment regarding breasts of player while you where in a coach/player relationship?

Have you ever made sexually charged comments towards a player in a coach/player relationship?

After Anson takes the stand several players could be called that would destroy his creditably. He has to keep this out of court!

 

Well put TarHeelFan. It's interesting that some people seem to feel that Anson's behavior is OK because he is a 'nice', 'warm', 'touchy' person. If he made a player feel uncomfortable then he was out of line. In this day and age he should have known better. The NY Times Mag had a good article on sexual harrassment Sunday. It was focused on men harrassing men but the comments about inappropriate touching and comments are universal.
It's amazing how much tolerance we have for sports figures. If Anson were a teacher would we all feel the same?? Would this have dragged out for years? You have to wonder. Somewhere earlier on another thread someone commented on what a great guy Andy Neslon is and what a shame it is he had to 'resign'. Well maybe a great guy but unable to control himself as well may be the case here.

 

a lot of my coaches have been like Anson, in the way they interact w/ their players. It never borthered me with them. I know alot of UNC players from different years and from my experience he is like that with them too. although it doesn't seem to borther them. they keep going back to his program and support him and who he is. ( i know alot of people will say it is b/c of who he is, but truely if you didn't like a person you wouldn't keep coming back to that person.)