Overview

• Taylor filed a civil complaint on July 30 in the Northern District of California, naming ESPN and reporter Xuan Thai as defendants.
• He alleges ESPN’s March 19 story mischaracterized two third-party Stanford investigations into his conduct toward female staffers, asserting neither report found he bullied or belittled employees.
• The suit contends ESPN acted with actual malice by repeating and exaggerating false statements that pressured Stanford GM Andrew Luck to fire Taylor days after the initial article.
• Taylor has requested a jury trial and pleaded for at least $75,000 in damages to meet federal jurisdictional requirements.
• ESPN is preparing to defend its reporting as accurate and made in good faith, likely invoking editorial vetting and multiple-source corroboration to counter the defamation claims.