A Kennesaw State cheerleader who was barred from the national anthem for having knelt in protest, was awarded a $145,000 settlement from the state, the Marietta Daily Journal reported.
Cheerleader Tommia Dean received a check for $93,000, while her attorneys received $52,000 from the Georgia Department of Administrative Services, according to court documents, the report states.
"A compromise has been reached," the agreement states, per the MDJ.
"The intent of this agreement is to buy peace of mind from future controversy and forestall further attorney's fees, costs, or other expenses of litigation, and further that this agreement represents the compromise, economic resolution of disputed claims and, as such, shall not be deemed in any manner an admission, finding, conclusion, evidence or indication for any purposes whatsoever, that the KSU defendants acted contrary to the law or otherwise violated the rights of Dean."
Dean had taken a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice in September 2017 and her lawsuit claimed Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren and former state Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, urged then-Kennesaw State President Sam Olens to keep a group of cheerleaders off the field during future national anthems to squelch the protest.
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