Court Dismisses Parts of Stollings' Lawsuit Against TTU & Hocutt

On Thursday, August 26, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas dismissed parts of Marlene Stollings' lawsuit against Texas Tech University and Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt.

The lawsuit was filed back in October 2020 after the former head women's basketball coach was fired by Texas Tech. Stollings was terminated after an article by USA Today accused her and the Lady Raider basketball program of abusive behavior.

The lawsuit claims that Stollings was fired without cause and never paid as required by her contract. This claim was dismissed by the court due to sovereign immunity, which states people cannot sue government officials or agencies. There are exceptions to the rule, but they're not applicable here.

Due to sovereign immunity, Stollings' claims of fraud and fraud inducement were also dismissed.

The court also dismissed a Title VII discrimination claim against Hocutt, but left the one against Texas Tech. The same was done for a Title IX retaliation claim. This essentially cuts Hocutt out of the lawsuit.

Stollings has 21 days to adjust the complaint to only include the Title VII discrimination claim and the Title IX retaliation claim against Texas Tech University.