PULLMAN, Wash – It’s been more than 1,000 days since Nick Rolovich coached a Washington State Football team. As another season is about to begin, Rolovich’s lawsuit against the university drags on in federal court.
On October 16, 2021, Rolovich led the Cougs to a comeback win over Stanford. Two days later, he was terminated for refusing to comply with the state’s COVID vaccine requirement.
In November of the following year, Rolovich filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against WSU, then-athletic director Pat Chun and Governor Jay Inslee as defendants.
Chun has since moved on and is the athletic director at the University of Washington.
Rolovich said the vaccine requirement violated his religious beliefs.
A federal judge in Spokane previously threw out much of the lawsuit and also said Rolovich couldn’t sue Chun or Inslee, but that the lawsuit against WSU could stand.
The case had been most recently set to go to trial in December.
Last week, the judge struck the trial date from the calendar.
That’s because both parties indicated they will file motions for summary judgement.
That’s asking the judge to rule on the case without going to trial.
Attorneys now have a several weeks to file those motions and a hearing would be held later this year.
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