Doug Logan is suing USATF for wrongful termination

Doug Logan is BALLIN!!!

From espn article:

"Logan would not comment when reached by The Associated Press.The lawsuit, however, was in line with Logan's previous claims that he was fired without cause. USATF, meanwhile, has said it has reasons for firing the outspoken CEO in September and doesn't owe him anything.Logan has admitted to being a lightning rod who did not get along well with many of the members and volunteers in the track world but said that's what the sport needed to lift itself out of the doldrums after languishing through years of doping scandals and bad characters."

Dougy Logan be BALLiN outta controL!!!!!!

This time they need to get another flunky like Masback who will kiss the BoD's asses and grant each member of the BoD perks for themselves and their choice of a dozen family and entourage members. The next CEO needs to ensure that there are dozens of USATF do-nothings at meets accompanied by their cohorts, hanging around at the official meet hotel. That's the only way to keep your job as CEO of USATF.

What's wrong with USATF remaining as it is with amateurs and volunteers in control ? The CEO job is not a real CEO atall as in the for-profit world. Rather the equivalent for-profit title would be: Director of Operations, Executive Producer, Vice President of Operations.

Here is more on Logan's lawsuit including his employment contracts with USATF for all interested:

http://www.letsrun.com/2010/logan-1021.php

His new contract was paying him a flat $500,000 plus $48k for a car, NYC living expenses, and a country club membership.

What the change of heart from raise to firing ? What did Logan do to get his head lopped off suddenly without warning ?

wejo wrote:

Here is more on Logan's lawsuit including his employment contracts with USATF for all interested:

http://www.letsrun.com/2010/logan-1021.php

His new contract was paying him a flat $500,000 plus $48k for a car, NYC living expenses, and a country club membership.

The definition of termination with cause, which looks pretty standard, is going to be very tough for USATF to meet. I certainly haven't heard any allegations yet that would seem to satisfy any of the conditions for termination with cause.

Note that paragraph 14 includes a "prevailing party" clause, requiring the losing party to pay the attorney fees of the prevailing party. Note also that, in addition to a common-law breach-of-contract claim, Logan is filing a claim under the Indiana wage statute, which almost certainly provides for an award of attorney fees to a prevailing employee, and is apparently based on USATF's failure to pay wages due because termination was without cause. (USATF's offer to pay severance, if conditioned upon waiver of the right to sue, would probably not constitute the kind of unconditional payment generally required under a state wage statute.)

I think that it is highly probably that Logan and his attorneys are going to get paid an awful lot of money. I don't know what USATF's finances are like, or what kind of liability insurance it may have for this, but this has the look of a legal massacre in the making.

I'm really curious about the nature and source of legal advice that USATF has received during this entire mess.

so, in other words, DL is BALLIN!!!

Hey Number , Do you think we will see full exposure of what the board has been up to ? Like e-mails , phone records , audit of expenses etc etc ?

My guess given the way this went down the board had a window to make this happen , but not the time to really look at the potential fall-out ?

If this blows up across the board , would this not be time to restructure and clean house ?

Is pretty clear this would be seen as board negligence and the board chair held accountable.

The end is near wrote:

Hey Number , Do you think we will see full exposure of what the board has been up to ? Like e-mails , phone records , audit of expenses etc etc ?

I think that it would probably be a very good thing if that were to happen, and the scope of discovery in this case is likely to be extremely broad, but it wouldn't surprise me if USATF caves in and settles for a very large sum when its board starts to realize how intrusive the discovery process is.

If the case does go forward through the discovery phase, USATF could argue that certain information obtained during discovery should be kept confidential, but that could be a tough sell where the entity is at least quasi-public rather than, for example, a for-profit corporation that has legitimate business grounds for protecting trade secrets and other sensitive business information.

You are correct, they did sue under the Indiana wage and hour statute, and yes it provides for attorney fees. Logan's attorneys are not my favorites as people, but they are politically connected and very good. They will crush any of the big Indianapolis firms, who will bill the hell out of this file, then recommend settling.

USATF received some very poor legal advice, or more likely disregarded their legal counsel and fired Logan without cause, invoking the termination clause. I predict a settlement in access of $2 million, which is ladies and gentlemen over 10% of our sports sad pathetic budget.

I think a shareholders action or the NGB equivalent needs to be filed and have Ms. Hightower and the board removed. Their incompetence is harming the sport. Sadly, I can assure you they would be replaced by equally incompetent folks.

Interesting. I learned my law from television shows but had an inkling that this wasn't handled in a professional fashion and that was prior to knowing that the Board had recently approved a pay increase, guessing that was accompanied with a flattering employee evaluation. This doesn't make the Board look very good. Logan is the type of loose cannon riverboat gambler that would scare the pants off me if I was a defense lawyer. Notably, his own lawyer has wisely shut him up. I hope this goes public but also hope the young board members don't get caught up in the upheaval or become disenchanted. I'd like to think they were bum-rushed in this process and will continue to contribute their talents to the sport.

IN Attorney wrote:

USATF received some very poor legal advice, or more likely disregarded their legal counsel and fired Logan without cause, invoking the termination clause. I predict a settlement in access of $2 million, which is ladies and gentlemen over 10% of our sports sad pathetic budget.

Why the $2 million figure? Logan is owed a little over $1.6 million on his contract. Is there some sort of extra-damages clause anywhere?

If not, it seems like with a settlement Logan would get less than the full amount not more.

Typically this is an insurance matter, legal expenses and judgement. The insurance company will hire provide the attorney

It will never see the steps of a courthouse. They will go through discovery, maybe some depositions, trying to soften up Logan with some legal costs and tedium, then they will settle. They already have the dollar number reserved.

This is routine stuff.

wejo wrote:

Why the $2 million figure? Logan is owed a little over $1.6 million on his contract. Is there some sort of extra-damages clause anywhere?

If not, it seems like with a settlement Logan would get less than the full amount not more.

I haven't calculated the numbers, so I don't have any particular settlement figures in mind, but it's important to note that, if the case goes to final judgment in favor of Logan following jury trial, Logan will likely be entitled to an award of attorney fees, recoverable litigation costs, prejudgment interest, and any available statutory penalties or liquidated damages under the state wage claim act. In cases like this, the potential award of attorney fees, in particular, often drives the settlement numbers and makes it difficult for the employer to effectively "low-ball" an ex-employee who has a solid liability claim.

WIthout looking at the contract again, I don't know whether USATF has any argument that any damages should be reduced by Logan's ability to mitigate damages through alternative employment, but I'm guessing that the contract itself limits or precludes that argument.

mplatt wrote:

Typically this is an insurance matter, legal expenses and judgement. The insurance company will hire provide the attorney

It will never see the steps of a courthouse. They will go through discovery, maybe some depositions, trying to soften up Logan with some legal costs and tedium, then they will settle. They already have the dollar number reserved.

This is routine stuff.

I wouldn't be too quick to assume that this is covered by USATF's liability insurance. It could be, but keep in mind that the Logan's claims sound in contract, not tort. Many liability insurance policies provide little or no coverage for contract claims, since insurance companies generally don't like the idea of having to pay money that a policy holder owes under a contract, but simply refuses to pay.

Ok , Mr. Logan gets his money one way or another.

How will the board be reviewed and in this case with apparent gross negligence be held accountable ? Who leads this charge ?

so, in summary, Douglas Logan is BALLIN to da BALLIN power...he BALLIN outta control

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvIz6dEoQ_Q