Auburn University, its current head track coach Ralph Spry and assistant coach Henry Rolle have had settlement talks with former assistant coach Adrian Ghioroaie, who is suing the school for discrimination and his former colleagues for negligence and assault and battery, respectively, and a trial date has been set in the case.
In a five-page report on a planning meeting of the parties filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, attorney Logan Matthews of Birmingham firm Lightfoot, Franklin & White, who is also representing Auburn and Spry in the case, states the sides have "considered and discussed the possibility of settlement and have agreed that additional investigation and discovery is needed before a decision can be reached" and agreed to a trial date of April 22, 2019.
According to court documents, the trial would be expected to last three to four days.
"(U)ntil completion of initial discovery, the parties cannot accurately evaluate the claims or determine whether alternative dispute resolution would be helpful," Matthews writes in the report. "The parties will continue to discuss settlement and will request mediation if the need arises."
A series of deadlines was agreed to in the case, which comes after Ghioroaie claimed he was discriminated against when his contract was not renewed at Auburn in May 2016 due to an Oct. 2015 altercation, in which Rolle is accused of grabbing Ghioroaie by the neck and swinging a metal tiger statue at his head. Rolle, who is still employed at Auburn, has claimed self-defense in the incident, for which he was placed on two weeks administrative leave and was later arrested for misdemeanor harassment, though the case was dismissed upon completion of a pre-trial diversion program, according to Auburn Municipal court records.
Last month, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gray Borden filed a report stating Ghioroaie made "plausible" claims of employment discrimination based on race and national origin as well as retaliation.
UPDATE: Federal judge dismisses 1 charge in discrimination lawsuit of former Auburn assistant track coach
Now an assistant coach with Toledo's women's track and field team, Ghioroaie is seeking compensatory damages from Auburn and compensatory and punitive damages from Rolle and Spry.
According to Tuesday's report, Ghioroaie can join additional parties or amend his complaint until April 18 and Auburn, Spry and Rolle, all of whom filed extensive defenses, can amend their pleadings until May 2. The parties will complete initial disclosures by April 25, Ghioroaie will make expert disclosures by Aug. 8 and Auburn, Spry and Rolle will do so by Sept. 12, all fact discovery will be completed by Nov. 20, motions for summary judgement and challenging admissibility of expert opinions will be filed by Jan. 16, 2019, all pretrial disclosures will be made by March 15, 2019 and the trial will be five weeks later, per court documents.
James Crepea is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @JamesCrepea.