FILe – In this Feb. 7, 2016, file photo, Denver Broncos Peyton Manning holds up the trophy after the NFL Super Bowl 50 football game in Santa Clara, Calif. The lawyer for six women suing the University of Tennessee on its handling of sexual assault complaints by student-athletes is focused on the schools systemic problems he believes exist and is surprised at the attention the complaints brief mention of Peyton Manning generated. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)KNOXVILLE – The lawyer for six women suing the University of Tennessee over its handling of sexual assault complaints by student-athletes is focused on what he considers the school’s systemic problems and is surprised at the attention the complaint’s brief mention of Peyton Manning generated.
“It’s certainly unanticipated,” attorney David Randolph Smith said.
Smith said he included events from the last two decades – one involved Manning in 1996 – to show how Tennessee has handled reports of misconduct.
“We included one small paragraph about the Manning situation in the complaint, just as part of the overall background and history,” Smith said.
“Peyton Manning is not a party to our lawsuit,” he added. “All these reports that say he’s in the lawsuit, well he’s referenced, but it’s part of the historical” background.