Appellate Court Reinstates Former Coach's Lawsuit Against U. of Louisiana

The Court of Appeal of Louisiana has reinstated a racial-discrimination lawsuit filed by a former football coach, Jerry Lee Baldwin, against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Mr. Baldwin, who was fired in 2001 after running up a 6-27 record over three years, was replaced by a white male coach and subsequently sued the university system, the Lafayette campus, and its athletics director, alleging discrimination. A trial-court judge granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the case in 2005, but the state appeals court reversed that decision, saying such a summary judgment was “rarely appropriate” for deciding a case based on facts that were open to different interpretations. The ruling sends the case back to the trial court for further proceedings. —Charles Huckabee