By MJ Slaby of the Knoxville News Sentinel

This is a copy of the University of Tennessee $2.48 million settlement check in the federal Title IX lawsuit paid to Nashville attorney David Randolph Smith on behalf of eight Jane Does. (UT)

 

A Nashville law firm hired to defend the University of Tennessee against claims the university mishandles sexual assault cases — especially those involving football players — put six lawyers to work the day after a federal lawsuit alleged just that.

For a trio of lawyers in that group, eight straight days of work — including both days of a weekend — on the case followed. Each billed at rates of $250 per hour to contribute to a more than $500,000 tab from the firm, Neal & Harwell.

In February, eight unidentified women accused UT of a “hostile sexual environment” and of giving preference to student athletes when they are accused in sexual assault cases. In July, a $2.48 million settlement was announced by UT and the plaintiffs.

For five months a legal team, led by attorney Bill Ramsey, crafted a defense and negotiated a settlement.

The team logged the most hours in March, with more than 600 hours. That was less than a third of the total billed hours among nine attorneys and one staffer.

Bills and correspondence among the state, UT and the law firm were obtained by the News Sentinel through a public records request. The 149 pages of records are heavily redacted, especially in work descriptions, but the dates, attorney names and hours are legible.

Those details provide insight into the legal work done as the university and its sports teams faced scrutiny during the spotlight the lawsuit created.

The documents show the hours billed by attorneys, as well as travel reimbursement and the hiring of a digital forensics company during the case.

The lawsuit has cost UT more than $3 million, and that bill is expected to grow as the law firm continues to work for UT.

In addition to the $2.48 million settlement, the bill from Neal & Harwell added up to $555,356.13 for legal services and expenses as of July 31, according to the state Office of the Attorney General.

Those bills are paid by the state, and then billed back to UT, state and university officials confirmed.

When announcing the settlement, UT officials estimated that if UT had continued to trial and appeals, the case could have cost as much as $5.5 million.

In the past two years, UT has paid more than $4.5 million on settlements and fees in athletics-related lawsuits.

A separate records request from UT revealed that between Feb. 19 and July 6, the university paid $2,670,795 toward its bill for legal representation and the settlement in eight payments. Five of those were for “public relations and communications fees,” two were for “attorney’s expenses” and the last one was the settlement.

The more than $2.67 million was evenly split between the campus and the athletics department. Of the campus funds, $900,000 came from licensing proceeds, and $435,397.50 came from other auxiliaries that are not gift or state funds and not derived from student tuition and fees.

EARLY WORK

According to the documents, billed work by the law firm dates back to May 6, 2015. That’s nine months before the lawsuit was filed and more than a month before Ramsey was hired on June 18.

On May 15, 2015, and again on May 18, 2015, complaints alleging UT mishandled sexual violence cases were filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Seven of the eight cases that ultimately involved plaintiffs in the lawsuit had occurred by then.

Ramsey previously said his hiring was not related to the OCR complaints, which were handled by UT legal staff. He said he was hired before the lawsuit was filed because the university knew the litigation was coming.

Court documents later showed the OCR complaints were filed by plaintiffs in the lawsuit. As part of the settlement, the women asked for the OCR investigations to be dropped.

As of Wednesday, those cases remained open, according to the OCR.

According to the records, Ramsey billed for 18.5 hours of work on 14 separate days before his hire date.

Aubrey Harwell Jr., one of the firm’s founders, also billed for three-and-a-half hours of work on three days in June before Ramsey started officially representing UT.

In a July 13, 2015, letter to Catherine Mizell, UT general counsel and secretary, Ramsey wrote that he included time and expenses that predated his “official hiring date.”

“As we discussed, let me know if that is acceptable,” he wrote.

Then in a Nov. 10, 2015, letter, Ramsey asked Mizell about $3,250 withheld from payment and asked about that withheld amount again in a letter dated Dec. 14.

Mizell’s response isn’t in the documents, but the amount is equal to what Ramsey billed for in May. A handwritten note on the invoice says to “delete May services.”

Ramsey and Harwell were still paid a combined $2,250 for work before Ramsey’s official hiring date.

In the letter from Gov. Bill Haslam to Ramsey that hired Ramsey to represent UT in “allegations involving Title IX,” the pay for members of the firm is listed as an adjusted hourly rate of $250. Law clerks and paralegals were to be compensated at their standard hourly rates, not to exceed $75 per hour.

In the invoices, only two people received a rate that was not the $250 for firm members. That was the maximum of $75. In one case, a lawyer was paid as law clerk or paralegal for several months before her rate went up to $250 with the other members of the firm.

Neal & Harwell staff were paid for more than 500 hours of work before the lawsuit was filed, including more than 150 hours in September and more than 100 in December.

AFTER THE FILING

The week after the lawsuit was filed, anywhere from four to seven lawyers worked on the case daily.

The next week, the lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit’s references to sex harrassment claims against former Vol quarterback Peyton Manning. That motion came on the same day that all UT head coaches defended their programs and culture at a news conference.

Six Neal & Harwell lawyers worked on the case that day. Six of the firm’s lawyers also worked for the next two days as lawyers for the plaintiffs filed an amendment to the lawsuit, upping the number of plaintiffs from six to eight.

The next week, at least five lawyers worked on the case for UT from Monday to Friday with the most, seven, on March 2. Seven people, six of them lawyers, also worked on the case on Sunday.

The documents show March was the most expensive month for billed hours at a cost of $149,912.50.

The records for that month show 12 days with six lawyers working on the case and one day with seven.

As they worked, the lawyers filed several motions and provided the court with a list of witnesses to be called if the case went to trial.

Several of the defense motions were denied that month, and Ramsey held a private meeting with the UT Board of Trustees during a regular board meeting at UT’s Martin campus.

Ramsey also hired lobbyist Tom Ingram in March, with the approval of UT to fund the hiring at up to $240,000 for a year of work from March to Feb. 28, 2017.

Ingram was a paid consultant to Gov. Bill Haslam until July 2015 and is the founder of Nashville-based public relations and lobbying firm the Ingram Group.

It’s unclear in documents, obtained by the News Sentinel through various public records requests, whether the funds to pay Ingram are on top of the funds billed by Neal & Harwell or included in those bills.

The 149 pages of invoices make no mention of fees for communications; however, those pages are heavily redacted.

Documents from a records request to UT show payments for “public relations and communications fees.”

As the case continued into the spring, Neal & Harwell lawyers continued to team up.

The records show eight days in April with six lawyers and four days with seven lawyers. For May, the records show four days with six lawyers and two days with seven lawyers.

The records don’t include hours billed in June and July.

MORE BILLS

In addition to billing for a slew of attorneys, Neal & Harwell also passed to UT the cost of services from LogicForce Consulting.

The Nashville company works with legal clients on litigation matters, including “electronic discovery and digital forensic services.”

The records show seven invoices from LogicForce starting in August 2015. The amounts range from $900 to $8,8620.50 for a total tab of $17,715. The two most expensive bills — $8,862.50 and $2,750 — are from August 2015.

Like the invoices from the legal team, the description of the services by LogicForce are redacted. A call to the company was not returned on Wednesday.

In addition to March being the most expensive month for billable hours, it’s also the month that three lawyers — Megan Deardorff, Robert Peal and Ramsey — came to Knoxville and billed for travel ranging from mileage reimbursements at 47 cents per mile to private flights.

Deardorff and Peal each billed for round trips from Nashville to Knoxville at 54 cents per mile, but the documents were adjusted to 47 cents per mile for a total of $162.62 billed by each lawyer.

Deardorff came to Knoxville on March 7 for “witness interviews.” Peal came to Knoxville on March 14 for “meetings.”

Ramsey also billed for round trips to Knoxville for a total that was adjusted to $150.40 and $168.64 for a hotel stay overnight from March 24-25.

According to the documents, Ramsey came for a “meeting with client.”

The travel bill doesn’t show his trip to UT-Martin to speak with trustees at the end of March.

The documents also show travel to Knoxville in April.

On April 22, two Neal & Harwell clients in Knoxville split the cost of a plane for Harwell and Ramsey, with $1,287.71 billed to UT. Three days later, the pair of lawyers also billed for a car service and second flight for a total of $1,900.

Rob Peal billed $169.20 for mileage on a round trip to Knoxville on April 26. He also billed $19.42 for meals at Wendy’s in Gordonsville, Tenn., and at AFC Sushi on the UT campus. Handwritten notes on the documents show those meals were not paid for by UT.

Deardorff also billed $162.62 for another trip on April 29 for “interviews.”

The News Sentinel also requested the bills for the lawsuit from UT, but the university defaulted to the state’s records set. UT also denied a request for documents and correspondence between UT and the law firm that discussed former Vol Drae Bowles, who was allegedly punched by a teammate for giving a ride home to a woman who accused two players of rape. According to the lawsuit, UT football coach Butch Jones told Bowles he betrayed the team but later apologized.

The university also denied a request for correspondence between Raja Jubran, vice chairman of the UT Board of Trustees, and Neal & Harwell. In both cases, UT cited attorney-client privilege and student privacy laws.