LSU sanctioned for losing cell-phone evidence in sexual assault lawsuit
BATON ROUGE — LSU has been sanctioned in federal court for losing cell phone evidence connected to an ongoing sexual misconduct and assault case against the university, according to court documents obtained by The Advertiser.
Ten former LSU students filed a lawsuit against the LSU Board of Supervisors and 18 others in April of 2021 accusing the school of mishandling their sexual assault cases, sex-based discrimination and breaking Title IX laws. Among the plaintiffs are former LSU tennis players Abby Owens, Jade Lewis and Kennan Johnson.
The cell phone evidence in question are text messages between at least one plaintiff and their former coaches, Julia and Michael Sell. But the data the plaintiffs were seeking had been eliminated from the Sells' university-issued phones by the time the plaintiffs had requested the information in October of 2022, according to the documents.
The only defendant remaining in the case, the LSU Board of Supervisors, claims it "has no idea who deleted the data or when," according to the documents.
"I think the order speaks for itself," Karen Truszkowski, the plaintiffs' attorney, said to The Advertiser.
LSU did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Both phones were university issued devices and had been returned to the school by the Sells when they had decided to part ways with the university in April of 2022. Both attorneys in the case had also agreed to an Electronic Stored Information order to preserve the evidence in question, according to the documents.
The original complaint filed by the students listed the Sells as defendants. The complaint detailed the Sells' failure "to report assaults that they were informed of," and their harassment of athletes during their time with the university, according to the documents.
The Sells were dismissed from the case as defendants, along with former football coach Ed Orgeron, on Jan. 19, 2022.
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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU sanctioned in sexual assault lawsuit for losing evidence
