Peyton Manning and the former University of Tennessee athletic trainer who accused him of sexual harassment in 1996 filed lawsuits against each other in 2005, Sports Illustrated reported Sunday.
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In 2002, she filed a defamation suit against Manning.
“When institutions like the University of Tennessee tacitly condone violence against women by ignoring cases of sexual assault by student-athletes, it perpetuates a risky culture of violence that ultimately hurts women everywhere”, said Nita Chaudhary, co-founder of UltraViolet, in a statement.
Highlighted in a lawsuit against the University of Tennessee for fostering a “hostile sexual environment” is a sexual assault complaint against Peyton Manning. What makes it worse is there are reports that ESPN has been told to not talk about this story or the investigation behind Manning’s alleged HGH use. As King points out in the Daily News, Manning’s teammate Malcolm Saxon witnessed the incident and was the individual Manning claimed to be mooning. The Daily Beast wrote about the case a week before the Super Bowl. It takes a deep look into the 74-page document the Naughright lawyers put together in her defamation case – later settled for an undisclosed sum – against the Mannings in connection with their book’s publication.
Bill Polian, the former Indianapolis Colts general manager and president who drafted Manning, told ESPN this week that the lawsuit’s brief mention of the old complaint “fits the definition of a smear… plain and simple”.
Naughright claimed that the school asked her to change her story and say that, when she later left the Knoxville school, it was because an African-American athlete had exposed himself to her and was not because of the alleged incident with Manning.
The answer is no. People who love Peyton will believe his explanation that he playfully “mooned” a fellow Tennessee athlete in the presence of a female trainer back in 1996, which is nothing like the trainer’s allegation that Manning dropped his trousers and deliberately pressed his buttocks and genitals against the kneeling trainer’s face during the examination of an injured leg. Come to find out, he’s more like them than I could’ve ever imagined. Mediation appeared to work as the parties reached a settlement on December 3, 2003-right as Manning was enjoying his first MVP season.
“Naughright’s boss, Rollo, called her “[expletive] bumper”, or “bumper”, a derogatory phrase directed at a lesbian (though she is not), and referred to a Tennessee women’s team as the “Lady Lickers”. The UT lawsuit cites a USA Today article from 2003 about the woman’s subsequent lawsuit against Manning for his reference to her in his book. Manning’s name showing up in the new Title IX lawsuit is simply a logical inclusion of an incident involving a player and a female employee in an attempt to establish a pattern of behavior by an athletics department. Active NFL players are prohibited from pitching alcohol, so it was widely interpreted that Manning is planning to retire.
In court papers, the incident is used to show the University of Tennessee was legally “on notice” of ongoing issues of sexual harassment at the school but did little to stop it.
“Then one day I was in the training room and a track athlete I knew made some off-color remark that I felt deserved a colorful (i.e., Cooper-like) response”.
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Like the doping allegations, Manning’s 20-year old sexual assault accusations could be pushed under the rug, and he will go on to a booth career like the QBs before him. E.g.
