Mistrial declared in lawsuit filed by Penn State team doctor after he was dismissed

HARRISBURG — A mistrial was declared Monday during opening arguments of a trial in a lawsuit by a fired Penn State football team doctor who alleges he was ousted after complaining to school officials about pressure to clear players to return from injuries.

Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Dowling declared the mistrial after the defense attorney mentioned that Penn State’s football coach, James Franklin, and Penn State athletics had been dropped years ago from the lawsuit filed by Dr. Scott Lynch, PennLive reported.

An immediate objection from Dr. Lynch’s lawyer led to a closed-door conference. When the judge returned he noted that Mr. Franklin and Penn State athletics had been dismissed from the suit in April 2020 over a filing deadline issue, not over the merits of the suit. He said the mention of the dismissal had prejudiced the jury.

A new trial has been set for May 20. The defense vowed to appeal Judge Dowling’s ruling.

Dr. Lynch filed suit in 2019 alleging that he was ousted from his roles as Penn State’s director of athletic medicine and orthopedic consultant to the football team following repeated clashes with Mr. Franklin. He is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from Penn State Health and his former supervisor.

Before the mistrial, Dr. Lynch’s attorney, Steven Marino, alleged that the coach tried on multiple occasions to interfere with Dr. Lynch’s medical decisions to get injured players back onto the field.

Mr. Franklin and Penn State have denied those allegations. Penn State Health maintains that Dr. Lynch was ousted because he lacked a primary residence in State College and a local doctor would better suit the health and welfare of university athletes.

Defense attorney Sarah Bouchard, representing Penn State Health, accused Dr. Lynch of harboring personal animosity toward Mr. Franklin, who became coach during Dr. Lynch’s second year as the team’s doctor. Despite the clashes, she said, Dr. Lynch never had any of his medical decisions overruled.

Ms. Bouchard also said Dr. Lynch, an orthopedic surgeon, remains director of sports medicine at Penn State Health and earns “over a halfmillion dollars a year.”

Mr. Marino said Dr. Lynch’s role with Penn State football and Penn State athletics “carried with it a level of prestige” and “cast him into a national spotlight,” which was stripped away. He told jurors they could consider “damage to reputation, humiliation, and embarrassment” in calculating compensatory damages.