Lawyers For SJSU Volleyball Plaintiffs Say Mountain West’s Blaire Fleming Investigation ‘Infected With Bias’

As OutKick reported earlier Sunday, the Mountain West Conference says it “did not find sufficient evidence of claims in a recent Title IX complaint” that claimed transgender San Jose State (SJSU) volleyball player Blaire Fleming colluded with a Colorado State player to throw a match last month. 

In addition to that allegation being included in a Title IX complaint, it’s also contained in a lawsuit filed last week that is headed by the lead attorney for the pro-woman organization Independent Council On Women’s Sport (ICONS), which is funding and backing the lawsuit.

A dozen women are suing the Mountain West, among other defendants, for suppressing their First Amendment rights. 

Lawyers for the plaintiffs released a response letter, obtained by OutKick, demanding that the Mountain West Conference release all documents pertaining to the investigation of the collusion allegation against Blaire Fleming. They characterized the investigation as “rushed, sloppy, incomplete, and infected with bias.” 

Lawyers for SJSU’s Brooke Slusser and Melissa Batie-Smoose called the Mountain West’s investigation into Blaire Fleming’s alleged role in collusion with Colorado State “inadequate.”

(Getty Images & Imagn Images)

“Because the MWC’s investigation was inadequate, and anything but thorough, and because the MWC’s close-out letter is riddled with errors, the undersigned is issuing this rebuttal and demands that the MWC immediately and publicly release: (1) the investigative report prepared by its investigator(s), and (2) all documents connected to the MWC’s claimed ‘thorough investigation’ and upon which the MWC’s decision not to proceed further was based,” the letter says. 

To wit, lawyers claim that the conference failed to interview San Jose State associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, co-captain Brooke Slusser. 

According to the lawsuit filed last week and the earlier TItle IX complaint, Batie-Smoose alerted SJSU head coach Todd Kress of a plot by Fleming and Colorado State player Malaya Jones to fix a match between the teams that would target Slusser with powerful spikes. 

According to the lawsuit, SJSU player Chandler Manusky recounted that Fleming and Jones ” had discussed Fleming ‘throw[ing] the game’ and how they would set up Jones to ‘blow up’ Slusser and ‘blast’ her in the face during the game.”

“The MWC evidently cared so little about getting to the bottom of what actually happened that it was unwilling to even wait to conclude its investigation until after these key witnesses could be interviewed,” the response letter states. 

“At best, the MWC’s refusal to interview Batie-Smoose and Slusser is more evidence of a rushed investigation; at worst, it is evidence of the MWC’s bias.” 

The situation involving transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming has gained national attention over the past few months, largely being litigated in the media. 

However, the inevitable next step has been reached, and that includes the situation eventually playing itself out inside a courtroom.