Former head football coach Mel Tucker waiting to be approved by the board of trustees at the Hannah Administration Building on Feb. 12, 2020.
A lawsuit against Mel Tucker is at a standstill because no one can find the former Michigan State University football coach.
Brenda Tracy — a rape survivor and advocate harassed by Tucker while working for his team — is asking an Ingham County Court to help serve Tucker with her lawsuit, saying that he has evaded previous attempts.
Service is one of the first steps in a lawsuit, ensuring that the person being sued knows what is happening. Until a person has accepted service by signing a summons, a case cannot proceed.
A new filing says that Tracy’s lawyer has tried to reach Tucker with certified letters to nine previously known addresses and the East Lansing home he apparently still owns. All were returned as undeliverable with no forwarding address.
Tucker’s lawyers also declined to accept the lawsuit on his behalf, according to the motion.
Tracy also hired a process server to attempt to find Tucker and serve him in person. That too was fruitless.
The server went to the East Lansing home owned by Tucker, but found that he is no longer living there, according to an affidavit filed with the court. A UPS driver reportedly told the server that Tucker’s ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law live in the house, but the former coach has not lived there since his recent divorce.
It’s unclear exactly what Tucker’s strategy is. Evading service of a lawsuit can delay the matter, but often brings more issues for the defendant down the road. If the court grants Tracy's motion and Tucker continues to evade attempts to serve him, the case could end in a default judgment in her favor.
Tucker has publicly acknowledged that he is aware of Tracy's lawsuit, mentioning it and attaching a copy of the complaint to his federal lawsuit against MSU, which disputes his termination.
None of Tucker's attorneys responded to emails from The State News; a voicemail left on his last known cellphone was not returned.
Tracy's lawsuit accuses Tucker of defaming her by asserting that they had a consensual relationship, despite the university’s finding that he sexually harassed her.
The lawsuit also accuses Tucker of breaching a contract and interfering with Tracy’s business as a speaker and advocate against campus sexual violence. She argues that he improperly canceled a scheduled appearance at MSU after she objected to his harassment, and that she lost other contracts as a result of the widely-publicized scandal.
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