A former Louisiana State University athletics administrator has filed a motion to have state Judge Beau Higginbotham recused from her sexual harassment case after the judge ordered the plaintiff and her legal team to pay nearly $200,000 in sanctions.
Plaintiff Sharon Lewis filed the petition on Jan. 7 in the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish after Higginbotham ordered her and her attorney, Larry English, pay former LSU football Coach Les Miles $199,000 in sanctions. Higginbotham took over the case from now-retired Judge Tim Kelley, who previously sanctioned Lewis and English $337,000.
The latest legal filings in state court follow a decision by a federal court jury last month that rejected Lewis’ claims for damages over sexual harassment issues within the LSU Athletic Department. A motion and memorandum filed by English contends that Higginbotham ignored federal court rulings and testimony that he said showed Miles sexually harassed and bribed a student to stay silent about his conduct.
““Ms. Lewis and I have been sanctioned almost $200k for proving Les Miles was a sexual predator who broke the law to cover up his sexual misconduct,” English said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “Higginbotham should not only be recused from this case but be removed from the bench for his conduct in this case.”
Higginbotham imposed the sanctions after the filing of Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act claims in the state case.
“Higginbotham’s ruling is consistent with the 19th JDC Chief Judge Donald Johnson’s sworn testimony that Higginbotham exhibits racial bias against African-Americans,” English said. Both English and Lewis are African-American, and Higginbotham is white.
In response to the sanctions award, Miles issued a statement saying that he respected and valued Athletic Department staff members during his time as football coach at LSU.
“The fiction novel Sharon Lewis authored as an attempt at corrupt financial gain ended today,” Miles said. “I was awarded $200,000 against Lewis and attorney Larry English. The ruling provides clarity about Lewis’ persistent misrepresentation of the man I am. Justice is victory for all of us – a powerful reminder that truth vindicates.”
Miles’ attorney, Peter Ginsberg, called Lewis’ litigation an “unfair and hurtful saga” in the university’s history.
“Coach Miles has acted with dignity and decency, and he is perhaps most proud of that,” Ginsberg said in a statement. “Making false accusations and grabbing headlines is easy; fortunately, the justice system here has exposed the accusations for what they are, and a just punishment has now been imposed in response.”
Lewis and English called Miles’ statement grotesque and pointed to a report by the Husch Blackwell law firm that they said painted Miles as a racist and sexual predator.
“For the last year Les Miles has evaded subpoenas in state and federal court,” the legal team said in a statement. “His lawyer has argued to the court he suffers from dementia, but his statement congratulating Beau Higginbotham’s illegal ruling shows a sudden burst of clarity.”
The federal jury that dismissed Lewis’ allegations was “tampered with” during the trial by the testimony of LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward, according to Lewis’ legal team.
Lewis now plans to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and the NAACP to initiate an investigation of the state judges who have overseen her case.