Tag: suit

Sep 13, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Bill Belichick on the sidelines in the second quarter at Kenan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Former UNC provost claims laws were broken during Bill Belichick hiring

Posted on | by Field Level Media

A former university provost at North Carolina claims in a lawsuit that the university broke state laws to hide discussions about hiring Bill Belichick as its football coach, Front Office Sports reported Wednesday.

The lawsuit was filed Monday by Chris Clemens, who said the school and its board of trustees demonstrated a “systematic misuse of closed sessions to hide policy debates from public view.”

Clemens alleged three instances related to the athletic department, the biggest being Belichick’s surprise hiring. The six-time Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots was unable to land another NFL job and reached a five-year, $50 million deal to become North Carolina’s coach.

According to the suit, Clemens said the trustees called an “emergency meeting” on Dec. 12 and illegally conducted a closed session to discuss and approve the hiring of Belichick. The board followed by affirming the hire and the contract terms.

Clemens also alleges the board held a closed session in November of 2023 to compare the finances of membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference.

In May 2024, Clemens said the board met behind closed doors “to debate conference realignment strategy and athletics department finances.”

“Each episode follows the same pattern: the Board invokes a statutory exemption, enters closed session, then discusses broad policy or budget matters that must be debated publicly,” the suit says. “The Board compounds these violations by maintaining inadequate general accounts that prevent public understanding of what transpired.”

Clemens also alleges that the board attempted to “punish him for ‘leaking’ closed-session information” to faculty members regarding a meeting about tenure. Clemens said he was asked to resign and did so, effective May 16.

UNC board of trustees chair Malcolm Turner presented a statement to Front Office Sports.

Turner said Clemens’ claims were “disappointing and inaccurate, not to mention a waste of taxpayer dollars, for which this former officer of the University shows no regard.”

The Tar Heels are 2-2 through the first four games of Belichick’s tenure. North Carolina was whipped 34-9 last weekend by host South Florida.

–Field Level Media

Jul 28, 2022; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos linebacker Aaron Patrick (94) during training camp at the UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Broncos LB Aaron Patrick (ACL) files negligence suit over injury

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Denver Broncos linebacker Aaron Patrick is suing the NFL, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Los Angeles Rams and ESPN for negligence over a season-ending torn ACL he sustained during a game against the Chargers in Inglewood, Calif.

Patrick was defending against a punt return Oct. 17 at SoFi Stadium and went out of bounds. The lawsuit alleges that Patrick’s foot rolled on a mat that was covering television cords and cables used with the league’s replay monitor. He was trying to avoid slamming into an NFL employee involved with the monitor — whom he did collide with — just before his legs made contact with the mat.

Patrick said his knee bent awkwardly after his foot made contact with the mat.

The suit, filed in California by attorney William Berman, says “the defendants were negligent in their operations of SOFI STADIUM in allowing a dangerous condition to exist by having three mats placed near the sideline to cover cords/cables that led to the feed for the instant NFL’s replay monitor.”

Berman said that safety at SoFi Stadium wasn’t a priority of the NFL.

“Player safety should be the foremost of importance to the NFL and its owners,” Berman said. “The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar sports enterprise and business, and it needs to do everything possible to protect its players from non-contact game injuries.

“As for Patrick’s injuries, Sofi Stadium was built at a $5,000,000,000 expense; the stadium should have the state-of-the-art equipment to protect for player safety, and not use the type of $100 mats that you would expect to see in a restaurant kitchen.”

Patrick, 25, had a one-year, $660,000 contract for this season and reportedly lost the chance to hit bonus clauses in the deal. He played all but two snaps on special teams in five games this season and made three stops.

Overall, Patrick has 11 tackles in 17 games with Denver over the past two seasons.

–Field Level Media