A federal court in California has dismissed former Stanford football coach Troy Taylor’s defamation suit against ESPN and reporter Juan Thai.
The ruling late Tuesday found that ESPN’s report reflected information from two Stanford-Commission investigations into alleged discrimination by Taylor during his tenure as head coach.
Stanford announced Taylor’s firing on March 25, a week after ESPN reported the results of two investigative reports — described as “privileged and confidential” — that identified more than 20 former and current Stanford athletics employees who cooperated with investigators.
Much of Taylor’s court complaint focused on a headline, a photo caption, and the character of the original ESPN story, which he emphasized, both of Stanford’s investigations, concluded that he engaged in harassment and abusive behavior toward female employees. Three follow-up reports from ESPN repeated some of the language Taylor objected to.
Taylor insisted that the first investigation, in 2023, did not conclude that her conduct constituted gender discrimination. A second investigation took place in 2024.
Federal Magistrate Judge Virginia K. “The gist of the defendants’ report is that the 2023 investigation found that Mr. Taylor engaged in misconduct toward female employees in the workplace,” DeMarchi wrote in his ruling. “This is a remarkably true feature of the 2023 investigation and the results of the 2024 investigation.”
DeMarchi’s reporting accurately reflected the findings of ESPN’s investigative report.
Granting ESPN’s request to dismiss Taylor’s lawsuit, Demarche wrote. “Because none of Mr. Taylor’s challenged statements are defamatory as a matter of law, Mr. Taylor’s complaint fails to state a plausible claim for defamation.”
