Atlanta, GA (AP) - A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a ruling that former Alabama
football coach Mike Price was not entitled to a hearing before or after his firing
because he had not signed a contract with the university.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta agreed
with a lower court's decision to dismiss Price's $20 million defamation and wrongful
termination suit against the university.
Price and the university agreed in December 2002 to the principles of a
seven-year, $10 million contract. Before Price signed a contract, questions arose
about his drunken behavior at a golf tournament in Pensacola, Fla., and he was fired
in May 2003.
Price argued that he was entitled to a hearing before his firing and an appeal
afterward, and that the university's refusal to grant either hearing prevented him
from clearing his name. But the lower court ruled that Price had no such rights
because he had not signed a contract.
The appeals court agreed. "Even if Price had orally accepted the terms of the
draft proposal contract," the panel wrote, "Alabama's Statute of Frauds requires that
the contract be reduced to writing and signed, which was not the case here."
Price's attorney, Stephen Heninger of Birmingham, did not immediately return a
phone call seeking comment.
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