Former Harvard women’s ice hockey coach Katey Stone cleared a key hurdle Wednesday in her $20 million federal lawsuit against the university as a magistrate judge recommended that all but one small element of her case proceed toward a trial.
Stone’s complaints of gender discrimination and retaliation are sufficiently plausible to go forward, Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal stated in a 17-page report two days after hearing oral arguments in US District Court.
Sufficiently plausible as well, Boal wrote, are Stone’s claims that Harvard violated her rights to equal pay, except as they relate under state law to pay that occurred before 2021.
Under court rules, Boal’s recommendations are presented to the judge assigned to the case, in this matter US District Judge Leo Sorokin. Harvard and Stone have 14 days to file objections to any recommendation in the report.
The court set a hearing for April 14 to begin scheduling the next steps in the case, including the discovery process.
Boal’s recommendations relate only to five counts of Stone’s suit that Harvard asked the court to dismiss. There has yet to be a hearing on three additional counts in which Stone seeks $15 million or more from as many as 50 unnamed individuals identified as John and Jane Does for allegedly defaming her.
Stone, who won more games than any female coach in the history of collegiate women’s hockey during her 29 seasons at Harvard, claims the university forced her to resign after former players lodged false reports of misconduct against her. She alleges, too, that Harvard systematically paid her and other female coaches less than male coaches and retaliated against her because she advocated for equity.
Rejecting Harvard’s bid to dismiss the discrimination claim, Boal cited Stone’s assertions that the university treated her less favorably than her male counterparts who faced misconduct allegations.
Stone’s lawyers argued that male student-athletes, rather than their coaches, were disciplined in certain cases, while only Stone was held responsible for alleged misconduct on her teams.
“Coach Stone has plausibly stated a claim for gender discrimination,’’ Boal wrote.
As to Stone’s retaliation claim, Boal found it plausible based on her repeatedly opposing Harvard’s gender pay inequities as well as complaining about the unequal treatment she believed she received during the investigations into her conduct.
Stone filed the lawsuit last summer, after Havard gave her the option in 2023 of resigning or being terminated. The ultimatum followed several school investigations of Stone, beginning in 2020, when a survey of Harvard’s student-athletes showed low levels of satisfaction in her program.
Bob Hohler can be reached at robert.hohler@globe.com.
