A judge has denied a motion for an expedited hearing on a claim by a Black attorney suing USC that the university has balked at telling her lawyers exactly who fired her, as well as in producing what documents were relied upon in doing so.
Joyce Bell Limbrick’s Los Angeles County Superior Court contends that former Athletic Director Mike Bohn “made her life hell” as he racially harassed the only Black woman on the athletic department’s executive team. She also alleges the school terminated her under false pretenses for complaining about Bohn’s conduct.
On Monday, Judge Steve Cochran denied a motion by Bell Limbrick’s attorneys to have a hearing in December rather than the scheduled Feb. 5 date on their claim that USC has provided only superficial information on who fired Bell Limbrick and what documents were relied upon for doing so.
Bell Limbrick’s attorneys contended that without the court granting an expedited hearing, they could not immediately identify key witnesses, arrange depositions, assess the strength of USC’s defenses and prepare for trial or possible settlement.
But in his ruling, Cochran said Bell Limbrick’s lawyers “failed to make an affirmative factual showing of irreparable harm (or) immediate danger.”
In their court papers opposing the expedited hearings, USC attorneys said they had cooperated with providing relevant information to the other side’s lawyers and that the motion was a “strategic effort by plaintiff to manufacture urgency and accelerate unnecessary motion practice.”
Bell Limbrick’s lawsuit allegations include racial and gender discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment and defamation.
“Ms. Bell Limbrick had a thriving career at USC and she loved her work,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, J. Bernard Alexander III, said previously. “Then, Mike Bohn arrived. His incessant, racially charged remarks made Joyce feel uncomfortable and undervalued, but more than that, he actively isolated her from the executive team and undermined her work. She already was vulnerable as the only Black woman on the team, and rather than support her, the university allowed Bohn to make her life hell.”
Bell Limbrick obtained a law degree in 2007, was hired at USC as director of athletic compliance three years later and obtained her MBA from USC in 2015. She moved up the ranks and eventually obtained the title of executive senior associate athletic director/senior woman administrator, which the suit states made Bell Limbrick one of only a few Black women holding such a position in a nationally recognized university.
But Bell Limbrick’s career ascent at USC changed with the November 2019 hiring of Bohn as athletic director, according to the suit, which further states that at the time Bohn was under a cloud of investigation by his former workplace, the University of Cincinnati, for alleged sexist and racist conduct.
Bell Limbrick complained in October 2022 of unwanted touching by Bohn, alleging he hit one of her arms during a volleyball game, prompting an investigation, the suit states. Bell Limbrick also alleges that other examples of harassment and insensitive behavior she says she suffered at the hands of Bohn were ignored by USC.
In 2022, Bell Limbrick complained when she learned that fans outside the Coliseum had disrespectfully placed a Black former USC player’s jersey on a gorilla, but Bohn allegedly only said that the player did indeed “look like the gorilla,” the suit filed Jan. 9 states.
Bohn resigned May 19 after news reports surfaced about internal criticism of his management, the suit states.
After Bohn quit, the university never informed Bell Limbrick of the results of its investigation into her complaints of misconduct against him, according to the suit, which further states that the university terminated Bell Limbrick in September 2023 and falsely claimed that she had demonstrated a “pattern of poor performance.”