Fired Johnson-Klein raises new allegations in lawsuit.
The former Fresno State women's basketball coach filed a lawsuit against the university Tuesday, accusing the college of retaliating against her for complaining about sexual harassment and the lack of support for the women's athletic teams.
Stacy Johnson-Klein, who was fired March 2, also named university President John Welty, former athletic director Scott Johnson and former associate athletic director Randy Welniak as defendants.
The lawsuit comes as no surprise — Johnson-Klein's attorney, Warren Paboojian, has openly discussed intentions to sue the university in the months after she was fired.
"We hope that this is the first step in trying to get her reputation and career back," Paboojian said Tuesday. "She's trying to get her life back together. She's focused on the lawsuit and hopefully clearing her reputation."
Johnson-Klein, who is still unemployed, is seeking an undisclosed sum of money for punitive damages, saying she has lost current and future wages, as well as suffered from extreme mental anguish and emotional distress.
Paboojian would not say how much she will be seeking. "I'll let a jury decide that," he said. "I have an idea what the case is worth, but ultimately a jury is going to determine that."
The lawsuit states the university's firing and treatment of Johnson-Klein "went beyond all bounds of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society. This conduct would cause an average member of the community to react with outrage."
Neither Welty, Johnson nor Welniak could be reached for comment.
A university spokesman, Tom Uribes, said Fresno State has not received a copy of the lawsuit, but acknowledged that it was not a surprise.
Uribes said he could not discuss the pending litigation.
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It's just not appropriate to comment on it at all," he said.
When Johnson-Klein was fired, Welty presented a 380-page report prepared by the university that accused her of violating NCAA rules and university policies.
On Tuesday, Johnson-Klein could not be reached for comment by phone or at her Clovis home.
Paboojian would not discuss her whereabouts or her plans for the future.
But the 35-year-old Oklahoma native has told The Bee she planned to stay in Fresno to follow through with the lawsuit. She also has said she is pregnant, and plans to eventually move to Colorado, where her husband, Chuck Klein, has business interests.
The 24-page document, filed in Fresno County Superior Court, reveals some new allegations in the controversy between Johnson-Klein and Fresno State's athletic department.
Johnson-Klein claims that Johnson, who announced his retirement in February, inappropriately touched her, and made comments about her body and physical appearance.
The lawsuit also asserts that Welty and Welniak, who has since left to become an athletic director at Illinois State, made inappropriate comments about her breasts, cleavage and what they perceived as tight-fitting and revealing clothing.
Paboojian would not discuss any of the sexual harassment allegations.
The lawsuit also says the athletic department has a long-standing pattern of discriminating against women coaches, specifically those who are lesbian or who complained that women's teams were not receiving funding or support equal to men's.
Johnson-Klein says she was told that "lesbian coaches were not to be hired at California State University-Fresno."
On numerous occasions, she saw or heard her supervisors and athletic department staffers refer to lesbians as "the other team," adding that "you need to be on the home team and not the other team."
According to Johnson-Klein, she was told to choose sides.
Johnson-Klein "was instructed not to harbor or foster any type of relationship with any women athletes who were considered lesbians or complained of Title IX violations," the lawsuit alleges.
Title IX is a landmark law that bans sex discrimination in college sports, and calls for equal funding for men's and women's sports.
The lawsuit also states that supervisors repeatedly referred to certain women coaches as "lesbian, dykes and atheists."
The lawsuit asserts that the sexual harassment and gender discrimination fostered a hostile work environment.
It got worse, Paboojian said, when Johnson-Klein addressed those issues with her supervisors.
When the coach told Johnson that she felt she was being sexually harassed, her claims were ignored, the lawsuit alleges. She also sent Johnson several e-mails, fearing she would be retaliated against for addressing the issue — comments that soon became reality, according to the lawsuit.
She first spoke up about issues involving Title IX about a year before she was fired, Paboojian said.
According to the lawsuit, Johnson-Klein complained "that the women's basketball program received less monies, support, personal trainers and athletic trainers compared to the men's programs."
In response, the lawsuit states, the athletic department conspired to oust Johnson-Klein.
Welniak, Johnson and others conspired to "alienate her basketball team from her," by creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust, according to the lawsuit.
The coach was suspended Feb.9, and then Fresno State conducted a three-week investigation into her alleged violations of university policies and potential NCAA infractions.
That probe resulted in the 380-page report that, among other things, addressed allegations about her addiction to painkillers, violation of NCAA rules, abusive behavior toward players and implications that she was racist.
Welty gave a detailed press conference about the report, which the lawsuit states was done to discredit Johnson-Klein and soil her reputation.
FresnoBee.com