Federal judge grants Ole Miss request to dismiss Houston Nutt’s lawsuit
A U.S. district judge has granted a request by Ole Miss and its athletics foundation to dismiss the lawsuit filed by former Ole Miss head coach Houston Nutt and his attorney, Thomas Mars.
As first reported by Antonio Morales of the Clarion-Ledger, the order to dismiss says the federal courts do not have jurisdiction in the case. In the lawsuit, Nutt alleged he was slandered by comments made by certain Ole Miss athletics officials–and that these comments prevented him from finding another job in the coaching profession.
The order to dismiss says that the federal courts have no jurisdiction in the case.
The Hon. Neal Biggers, Jr. writes:
“In response to the instance motion, the plaintiff concedes that the defendants’ argument is meritorious and asserts ‘it is agreed that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction.’”
Mark Schlabach of ESPN reports that Thomas Mars told ESPN on Wednesday that he plans to re-file the lawsuit in state court.
Suit dismissed after both sides agreed federal court lacked jurisdiction. Nutt's attorney plans to re-file in state court
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) August 9, 2017
The complete order is below:
(Feature image credit: Amanda Swain, The Rebel Walk)
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
