SUjagTILLiDIE
Well-Known Member
Spears ruling: Coach awarded $600,000
By JOE GYAN JR.
Advocate staff writer
Published: May 6, 2011 - UPDATED: 5:14 p.m.
Comments (1) An East Baton Rouge Parish jury awarded former Grambling State University head football coach Melvin Spears Jr. nearly $600,000 on Friday after finding the school breached his contract when it fired him in late 2006.
Spears, who guided Grambling to the Southwestern Athletic Conference and black college national titles in 2005, was named head football coach at Alcorn State University earlier this year.
“It’s a great opportunity to be vindicated. I’m elated,’’ Spears, 51, said of the verdict by a jury of nine men and three women.
The panel voted unanimously to award Spears $449,500 for breach of employment contract and tacked on $11,000 in penalty wages and $139,000 in attorneys’ fees.
“I’m happy with the verdict that finally vindicates Coach Spears after five years,’’ Spears’ lead attorney, Wade Shows, said.
Shows said legal interest will add another $125,000 to what the jury awarded.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Spears-ruling-Coach-awarded-600000.html?showAll=y&c=y
By JOE GYAN JR.
Advocate staff writer
Published: May 6, 2011 - UPDATED: 5:14 p.m.
Comments (1) An East Baton Rouge Parish jury awarded former Grambling State University head football coach Melvin Spears Jr. nearly $600,000 on Friday after finding the school breached his contract when it fired him in late 2006.
Spears, who guided Grambling to the Southwestern Athletic Conference and black college national titles in 2005, was named head football coach at Alcorn State University earlier this year.
“It’s a great opportunity to be vindicated. I’m elated,’’ Spears, 51, said of the verdict by a jury of nine men and three women.
The panel voted unanimously to award Spears $449,500 for breach of employment contract and tacked on $11,000 in penalty wages and $139,000 in attorneys’ fees.
“I’m happy with the verdict that finally vindicates Coach Spears after five years,’’ Spears’ lead attorney, Wade Shows, said.
Shows said legal interest will add another $125,000 to what the jury awarded.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Spears-ruling-Coach-awarded-600000.html?showAll=y&c=y