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Kansas University guards Sherron Collins, left, and Russell Robinson suit up for practice in the team locker room at Ford Field before their 2008 Sweet 16 matchup with Villanova. On Monday a Douglas County judge ordered Collins to pay damages in excess of $75,000 to a woman who filed a civil suit against him, accusing him of assault.
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Sherron Collins lawsuit
A Douglas County District Court judge has rules against Kansas guard Sherron Collins in a civil lawsuit concerning an alleged assault.
Sherron Collins accused in civil lawsuit
Kansas guard Sherron Collins is making headlines today for a ruling against him in a civil lawsuit filed on May 14th.
Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self twice on Monday expressed support for junior guard Sherron Collins.
Self spoke first in a written statement, the second time in person to a handful of reporters outside his basketball camp at Horejsi Center.
"From the information we have, which is somewhat limited, I stand by him without question," Self said after a Douglas County District Court judge ruled in favor of a 35-year-old woman who filed a civil lawsuit against Collins, alleging an assault in a Jayhawker Towers elevator in May of 2007.
"That's what I believe anybody would do who believes in one of their family members, so to speak. We will wait and see what happens with the process, but like he (Collins) said in his statement, 'I'm looking forward to addressing this.'''
Self told reporters he was disappointed Collins failed to file a legal response to the civil suit filed on May 14. Because of Collins' failure to respond, a judge on Monday granted the woman damages in excess of $75,000.
Collins - on Monday he said he was "100 percent innocent of any inappropriate behavior" and apologized for not responding to the suit - will learn at a July 8 hearing the exact amount of damages to be awarded.
Down the line, the district attorney could conceivably choose to prosecute Collins, who was accused of exposing himself and rubbing against the woman in the elevator.
"I'm not positive how all that works. I'm still trying to gather information, but obviously the ball was dropped," Self said of Collins not responding to the suit. "I find out about it after the fact today (after reading story on ljworld.com and kusports.com).
"Of course he would have looked forward to addressing it. For whatever reason, being out of town ... that's what they all are, excuses. You have to be responsible, take care of your business. This is certainly a case where that did not occur."
Collins was back on campus attending summer school classes Monday after traveling to Chicago last weekend to visit his father, who is ill.
"He certainly wouldn't have shied away from addressing it if he was aware of the ramifications around it. Certainly that is no excuse. There is no excuse. You have to step up to the plate and accept your responsibilities," Self said.
Self acknowledged Collins faced "a very serious allegation that we have not taken lightly (since learning of it 13 months ago).
"I know he'll look forward to trying to fight any allegations. I am not going to have any further comment out of I guess you could say respect for the process. I don't think it's right for me to comment on it. I don't think it's right for him to comment on it. We'll just see what happens. I know he's looking forward to addressing it."
¢ Challenge games set: KU's game at Arizona next Dec. 23 will be part of the Big 12/PAC-10 Hardwood Series.
Other games in the challenge ...
Dec. 4: Oklahoma State at Washington; UCLA at Texas; USC at Oklahoma. Dec. 5: Arizona at Texas A&M. Dec. 6: Baylor at Washington State; Oregon State at Iowa State. Dec. 7: Kansas State at Oregon; Nebraska at Arizona State; California at Missouri. Also: Colorado at Stanford, Nov. 29 and Texas Tech at Stanford, Dec. 28.
¢ NBA workouts: On Monday, KU's Sasha Kahn worked out for the Washington Wizards, Russell Robinson for the Charlotte Bobcats and Darrell Arthur for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Kansas women's basketball to play St. Louis November 21, 2008
Tolefree signs to play volleyball at KU November 21, 2008
Kansas regroups, preps for Missouri November 21, 2008
KU basketball faces challenge on Monday November 21, 2008
Jayhawks look for help from hometown KC crowd November 20, 2008
Comments
jayhawkinatl (anonymous) says...
I'm just baffled as to why Coach Self and the rest of the KUAD didn't ride Collins' ass to make sure he responded. I mean they've known about for 13 freakin' months!!!!!!!
June 17, 2008 at 7:02 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chicago_JHawk (anonymous) says...
It seems they knew of the allegations but not of the filed civil suit.
June 17, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
No, these "allegations" had nothing to do with the civil suit. That suit was filed mid May this year. Self said he knew nothing of it. It was Sherron's responsiblity to "take care to it"; whatever that means. Should he have told Self? Yeah, I think that would be nice for starters as Self could have given him advice, etc. For Sherron to "not understanding the civil suit" is pretty shocking. The least it does is tell the world "I am stupid."
June 17, 2008 at 8:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
crooner (anonymous) says...
They know only about what Sherron tells them.
Sherron himself did not understand that the civil suit was a separate matter entirely from the criminal case, so this thing sprang on everyone out of the blue because of Collins' misinterpretation.
June 17, 2008 at 8:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cklarock (anonymous) says...
The court wouldn't have served the Athletic Dept., just Sherron.
Sherron didn't tell his coaches about the summons, didn't make his court date . . . bam, summary judgment. Most likely he'll get an attorney in there who will ask the court for a do-over*.
*Legal term.
June 17, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eastTXjayhawk (anonymous) says...
"Most likely he'll get an attorney in there who will ask the court for a do-over*."
i wish you people would stop using such legalese and speak in more layman terms ;-)
June 17, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhawks (anonymous) says...
This should not have happened. Didn't we all learn to show up to court from Brandon's mistake???????
I know it's ultimately the individual's responsibility to attend to his business, but is anyone watching our student athletes to make sure these things are dealt with on time?
June 17, 2008 at 4:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
Self is busy recruiting and celebrating our big win. He has no time to babysit these guys.
June 17, 2008 at 4:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhawks (anonymous) says...
I'm not blaming Self...
I'm just asking if there's someone that checks up on this.
If not... I can discuss my terms of employment anytime.
June 17, 2008 at 4:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justanotherfan (anonymous) says...
Let me start by saying that I DO NOT have any insider information on this situation. I'm just thinking aloud about what may have happened to lead to this.
Sherron could rightly have been confused about the difference between the continuing criminal complaint (which he informed Self of) and this new civil matter. When he got the civil summons, he may have mistakenly believed it to be the same as the continuing criminal matter, and, since he had already told the KU athletic department about it, figured they would tell him what his responsibilities were.
As an attorney, I have been contacted countless times by individuals who received a summons or lawsuit. Most times, these people have no idea what is going on, especially in civil cases, where the complained of action and the subsequent legal action are typically separated by quite a bit of time. If I were served with a civil suit, I'd know what to do. I'm an attorney, so that is a given. However, I'd guess that probably 90% of the country has no idea what to do if they are served with a lawsuit.
Most lawsuits don't list a specific "court date." Instead, the rules of procedure outline a specific length of time in which a person can respond before a default judgment is entered against them. Unless you know that court rules only give you a specific amount of time to respond, how are you to know that you have to "appear" in writing by that time.
Sherron did right to contact Self when the criminal complaint arose. His mistake was not informing Self every time he received paperwork from the courts, or simply assuming that Self and the AD would be aware of the continuing situation.
Hopefully, he will get an opportunity to be heard because he did not retain counsel for the civil complaint.
June 17, 2008 at 4:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...
I'm not that trusting of the woman. If she was so offended by Sherron's alleged advances on her, why is she waiting 13 months to file a civil suit against him? Is she trying to discredit the basketball team like that math teacher in Dallas?
June 17, 2008 at 6:18 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...
Furthermore, a word of advice to Sherron: For future reference, if you don't understand something, turn to someone who does. But don't keep quiet about it. I have made this mistake before and learned the hard way, keeping quiet makes the problem worse. And for my part, I don't believe the woman's allegations are true.
June 17, 2008 at 6:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...
I definitely understand what you are saying, justanotherfan, and I think you are correct in assuming a large majority (whether it's as high as 90% or not) of people would not have any idea what to do when served with a civil suit. However, I would estimate that an overwhelming majority of those people would immediately contact an attorney under those circumstances to aide in their ignorance. And if I'm not mistaken, KU offers legal aide to students and, at the very least, could have pointed Sherron in the right direction. Certainly the athletic department could have been of assistance if he would have completely informed them of ongoing situation (assuming he didn't).
I will make no comment and draw no judgment on the accusations at this time, but as to Collins' inability to respond to the complaint, that's just simply idiotic.
June 17, 2008 at 6:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...
jhwkfan162515:
My understanding (from what I've read from Keegan's article) is that the authorities have not completed their criminal investigation yet. I believe it is rational to assume that the woman was 1) afraid no charges would be filed, and in the interest of justice 2) wanted to file the civil suit before the statue of limitations ran out.
Clearly her motivation and intentions could differ from that, but it is certainly logical to assume that given the information reported at this time. However, like I said in my previous post, I'm refraining from judgment on either party until we gain more information about the incident (which may very well never happen).
June 17, 2008 at 6:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
garybedore (Gary Bedore) says...
Justanotherfan had a great post I feel. It's good to hear from an attorney on this matter.
Like Self said forcibly, no excuses, though. Sherron blew it.
He's 21. He grew up in a rough part of town. He knows what's up in the world. Now like LA said, it's wise to refrain from judgment until it plays out.
Brandon got handcuffed for not showing up. Sherron now makes the same type blunder.
Tons of people do this everyday. They however are beloved public figures and need to get their acts together regarding showing up for legal issues.
June 17, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
garybedore (Gary Bedore) says...
I mean these two Jayhawks are beloved public figures; i haven't figured out how to edit these posts yet.
June 17, 2008 at 11:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
Gary.....does it concern you it "appears" KUAC does not keep tight enough tabs on any potential legal matters for athletes? This has occured many times and KU always ends up in the bad light. Thoughts?
June 18, 2008 at 12:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
FlaHawk (anonymous) says...
I want to know why the criminal investigation is taking so long. What caused the delay or why did it suddenly go active after being ignored for so long. This is the real question that needs to be asked. CSI does not take but max of 60 minutes on TV!
June 18, 2008 at 10:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daughter (anonymous) says...
The allegations are true, Collins has done this EXACT same thing to me before. But I just roll my eyes and ignore him. Not SUE for $75,000!!! ha ha those players have done MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH worse things worthy of being sued over.
June 18, 2008 at 10:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
garybedore (Gary Bedore) says...
Keith, Good question. Brandon is over 21. Sherron is 21. They both failed to respond to matters. Maybe there should be somebody monitoring all legal activities. Maybe they'll add an athletic department position where kids go to these people with their legal problems.
My personal opinion is you can't babysit young adults all the time.
At some point there's personal responsibility. But with millions of dollar athletic departments, perhaps they should make an AD's responsibility keeping track of each player and seeing if they currently have legal issues.
That's babysitting though.
Maybe they need a full time babysitter type position.
Dunno.
Tough call.
June 18, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daughter (anonymous) says...
Of course Self is standing by Collins. That is what he is supposed to do. He knows Collins is in the wrong, but that does not matter when there is so much at stake for Self, Collins, & KU. Just goes to show what kind of people make a winning team... they type that will do whatever it takes to be on top. Also being on top makes these players think that they are invincible and can get away with anything. They need to LEARN A LESSON or 400 lessons about how to treat women and how NOT to treat women. Just because you're kings don't mean you treat women like your sex slaves.
June 18, 2008 at 7:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
daughter (anonymous) says...
by the way, can anyone tell me how to check my own personal messages on here? I see that I can write messages to other commenters and also receive comments but have not been able to find an "inbox" anywhere.
June 18, 2008 at 7:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LAJayhawk (anonymous) says...
daughter-
there isn't an inbox. If someone sends you a direct contact message it will be sent to the email you used when you signed up for the user id.
June 18, 2008 at 9:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
derringer29 (anonymous) says...
can u say gold digger
June 20, 2008 at 12:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )