LANSING, MI — An Ingham County judge has dismissed the lawsuit Brenda Tracy, a national advocate for abuse survivors, filed against former Michigan State University football coach Mel Tucker.
Tracy sued Tucker in October 2024 and claimed that he intentionally tried to ruin her public image and reputation with false statements, including his claims that she made up sexual harassment allegations in a plot to extort him and the school for money. Earlier this month, Tucker's attorneys filed a motion asking Judge Wanda Stokes to dismiss the lawsuit.
Tracy filed her lawsuit against Tucker more than a year after MSU fired him for cause following a university investigation that ultimately determined he sexually harassed Tracy during an April 2022 phone call when he masturbated without her consent. Tucker has maintained that he and Tracy had a mutual, consensual relationship.
The for-cause firing means MSU is not obligated to pay the roughly $75 million in salary that remained on his contract, university officials have argued. Tucker is suing the school, claiming that his firing was improper and therefore he's owed the remaining salary.
During a hearing on Jan. 28, Stokes granted Tucker's motion and dismissed Tracy's nine-count lawsuit, finding that claims were either barred by statutes of limitation or that there was no factual issue for a jury to consider. An appeal of Stokes' ruling in a separate lawsuit Tracy filed against Tucker in 2023, which contained similar counts, is still pending with the Michigan Court of Appeals.
