CHICAGO — Former Northwestern University basketball player John Vassar has sued the university, saying the university defamed him and cost him his scholarship and the ability to transfer to another school to continue playing college basketball.
Vassar filed a complaint on Aug. 10 in Cook County Circuit Court against Northwestern, alleging the school canceled his grant-in-aid and made false statements about him, including: stating he would be transferring from Northwestern, and accusing him of submitting fraudulent time cards to the athletic department, representing that he worked less than the agreed-on work scheduled to keep his scholarship.
The plaintiff alleges, from 2014 to May 2016, he accepted a multi-year Athletics Grant-In-Aid to play NCAA Division I Men's Basketball at Northwestern. In the middle of the 2014-2015 season, he alleges he was repeatedly harassed by his head coach and falsely announced that he was transferring schools even though he had no transfer school lined up.
He also alleges he was required to work as a janitor for an "internship." Though he wanted to stay at Northwestern, he alleges he was forced to look into transferring because he was unable to secure a waiver from the NCAA. All schools allegedly rejected him or lost interest. He lost his athletic scholarship, which he said resulted in losing access to medical care, athletic training, facilities, academic advising and tutoring.
Vassar has accused Northwestern of allegedly breaching his contract when it canceled his scholarship and exposed plaintiff to ridicule and contempt, which impacted his ability to transfer.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks actual damages, trebled damages, punitive damages, pre-judgment and post-judgment interests, costs of suit, attorney's fees and other relief. He is represented by Elizabeth A. Fegan and Daniel J. Kurowski of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP in Chicago and Steve W. Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP in Seattle.
Cook County Circuit Court Case number 2018L008685