(2nd day of blogs looking back on Fresno State athletics in 2007-08.)

Oakland lawyer Dan Siegel dramatically summed up the significance of the year’s three high-profile sex discrimination lawsuits.

He represented the plaintiffs in all three: former volleyball coach Lindy Vivas, former women’s basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein and former associate athletic director Diane Milutinovich. Johnson-Klein and Milutinovich also were represented by Fresno lawyer Warren Paboojian.

Minutes before the Johnson-Klein jury returned to Judge Donald S. Black’s courtroom on Dec. 6 with its verdict, Siegel swiveled in his chair at the plaintiff’s table and surveyed the gallery.

“Equal protection of the laws,” Siegel said to no one in particular. They are the final five words to Section 1 of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Johnson-Klein sought the laws' protection, saying she had been brutally treated by the university. Many of her former players testified it was they who had been treated brutally by Johnson-Klein, and the university was right to protect them by firing her.

Moments after Siegel’s comment, a unanimous jury delivered a multi-million-dollar verdict for Johnson-Klein.
In October, Fresno State and Milutinovich reached a $3.5 million pre-trial settlement. In June, Fresno State and Johnson-Klein reached a settlement worth $9 million. Fresno State’s appeal of the Vivas verdict remains active.