An attorney for three former IT administrators—who are suing LSU for forcing them to resign for failing to comply with a little-known state law requiring they register their vehicles in Louisiana as a condition of their employment—is seeking thousands of emails from the university as part of the discovery process in the case.

The suit, filed in May, claims LSU was negligent for failing to inform the former administrators about a 2013 state law requiring unclassified state employees who earn more than $100,000 per year to register their vehicles in the state and get a Louisiana driver’s license.

All three administrators, who are all from Illinois, were earning more than $100,000.

Larry Bankston, who represents the plaintiffs, says he hopes to establish through the emails that LSU was “well aware of the requirements and was negligent in enforcing the law.”

Bankston also says he plans to depose LSU President King Alexander and CFO Dan Layzell, who are named defendants in the suit.

“They were both hired at the time these laws were coming into effect so they should have known about it,” he says.

Attorney Drew Blanchfield with Kehogh Cox is representing LSU in the suit. He says he is not at liberty to comment.

But in late June, he filed a response to the suit on behalf of LSU. It denies the allegations and says the plaintiffs have failed to state a claim against the university, Alexander and Layzell. It also seeks a jury trial.

Bankston says he would have thought the university would try to settle the case by now, rather than move forward with trial preparations.

“They should have tried to settle this as opposed to litigate it,” he says. “They know they are wrong, but like so much that goes on at LSU, they come in and try to bully people.”