A lawsuit filed in July 2021 against ASU, the Arizona Board of Regents and former University athletic director Ray Anderson concluded its trial on Dec. 12, with the jury ruling in favor of ASU and the other defendants.
The trial was carried out in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and lasted multiple weeks before a verdict was reached.
The suit was brought by David Cohen, a former senior associate athletics director for ASU, who alleged that he was terminated from his position in December 2019 as retaliation for reporting allegations that a University donor sexually harassed his wife and several other women.
In the trial, Cohen's attorneys argued that damages amounted to between $440,000 and nearly $1.7 million, according to reporting from 12News.
However, with the jury ruling in favor of the defendants, for now, Cohen has come away from the six-year legal battle with nothing.
"ASU should not feel vindicated today," Michael Pérez, an attorney for Cohen, said in a written statement to The State Press. "They should not be happy about the fact that three women were sexually harassed at separate ASU basketball games and nothing was done about it. Systemic abuse and money prevailed."
ASU and ABOR declined to provide any additional comment regarding the trial or outcome. The lead attorney representing ABOR, ASU and Ray Anderson did not respond for a request for comment.
The suit and subsequent trial centered on whether the University and Anderson took proper steps to address the harassment and whether Cohen's termination was retaliatory in nature, or if other circumstances led to his departure from the University.
According to the complaint, prominent ASU athletics booster Bart Wear "assaulted and sexually harassed Mrs. Kathy Cohen (Mr. Cohen's wife) at an ASU Men's Basketball game in Las Vegas, Nevada. During that same game, Mr. Wear inappropriately touched at least one other woman."
Later in the document, the complaint said that one of the additional women harassed by Wear was Leslie Hurley, the wife of ASU men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley.
Cohen said he reported Wear's conduct to Anderson after he was informed about it by his wife.
"Initially, Ray Anderson was great," Cohen said during his trial testimony, according to reporting from the Courthouse News Service. "He said, 'I won't tolerate this.'"
However, in both his testimony and complaint, Cohen stated that in the weeks following his conversation with Anderson, nothing was done to discipline Wear or address what had happened.
The complaint stated that six weeks after the credible allegations of assault and sexual harassment were made against Wear, Anderson chose to go on a golfing trip with Wear, "because he was a prominent university booster," using Wear's private jet service.
In the trial, Anderson took the stand and testified that he made a mistake in failing to discipline the donor, though he did note that eventually Wear was barred from ASU Athletics events, according to reporting from 12News.
Bobby Hurley testified at the trial and said he called Anderson after seeing Wear at an ASU men's basketball game in December 2019. He said Anderson downplayed the claims of sexual harassment, according to reporting from AZ Central.
Cohen said he continued to bring up the harassment to Anderson and other ASU officials in the following months.
"Mr. Wear's assaults and sexual harassment had been reported at least seven times to four different people within ASU, and a fifth person who was a member of Arizona's Board of Regents," Cohen's complaint said.
"The sexual assaults were never addressed until our law firm got involved on behalf of Mr. Cohen after his termination, 6 months after the assaults," Pérez said in a written statement. "The culture at the ASU athletic department under Ray Anderson supported and cultivated big donors over the interest of the ASU community. In my opinion, today was a sad day for ASU."
The University's investigation of Wear's harassment did eventually come after Cohen was placed on administrative leave, and it did conclude that on three separate occasions, he had sexually harassed at least three different women, according to the complaint.
The remainder of the trial was centered around Cohen's personal performance as an employee and the circumstances behind his termination.
Cohen's complaint argued that, “For repeatedly raising ASU's failure to investigate and address Bart Wear's conduct, Mr. Cohen was labeled 'not a team player,' his bonus structure was changed, his responsibilities were reassigned, he was demoted, and ultimately fired."
The complaint went on to cite multiple positive performance reviews from 2018 and 2019 as proof of Cohen's value as an employee and his positive relationship with administrators like Anderson.
ASU President Michael Crow further backed Cohen's positive performance as an employee when he was called to testify in the trial.
Crow testified that Cohen "brought competence to the table," according to reporting from 12News.
Attorneys for the defendants, like Arizona Board of Regents attorney Robert McKirgan, countered Cohen's position by pointing out instances of misconduct by Cohen in his role.
One key example emphasized at the trial was a $690,000 check from Vivid Seats for ASU basketball ticket sales. Cohen said he first cashed the check, trying to keep the money safe, before eventually sending it back to Vivid Seats a month later, asking them to rewrite the check out to ASU Athletics, according to Courtroom News Service coverage.
The defendants also brought up an instance of "insubordination" by Cohen in August 2019, when he argued against being moved to a new manager, according to reporting from AZ Central.
A final argument presented against Cohen's case was the numerous bonuses he had received at Anderson's discretion, including a bonus of approximately $95,000 and a raise shortly before Cohen was terminated, according to 12News.
At the conclusion of the trial, the evidence presented by Cohen was not enough to convince the jury that his termination was the product of retaliation for his previous whistleblowing on Wear.
"Mr. Cohen intends to pursue all appropriate post-trial and appellate options," Pérez said in a written statement.
With Cohen's apparent intention to appeal, it seems more time will be added to the already six-year-long legal battle within the administration of ASU Athletics.
Edited by Henry Smardo, Senna James, Sophia Braccio and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at sluba@asu.edu and follow @samluba6 on X.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on X.
Sam Luba is a Senior Reporter with the State Press, focusing on longer form news stories and breaking news coverage. He is a Sophomore studying political science and justice studies, and is a competitor with Sun Devil Mock Trial. He was the Editor-in-Chief of his high school news magazine. He is in his 3rd Semester with the State Press, working previously as a Part-Time Political Reporter.
