DOVER, Del. - Delaware’s Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by a Delaware attorney who was forced to resign from his law firm after defending a Pennsylvania high school’s American Indian mascot.Scott Cousins, a Pennsylvania resident who worked at a Wilmington law firm, filed a complaint on his own behalf against the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District in August 2020 in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the district from retiring Unionville High School’s mascot.
Sports teams at the school had long been known as the Indians, a reference to the Lenape Indian tribe, and the logo featured the letter "U" draped by a feather.
The school’s mascot is now a longhorn steer whose horns form a "U" shape.Less than an hour after Cousins filed the lawsuit, Rosemary Goodier, another Delaware attorney and Pennsylvania resident, sent an email to Cousins’ employer, Bayard, P.A., with a link to a related news article and a subject line saying the lawsuit "reflects poorly" on the firm."Members of our community wish to bring to the firm’s attention the lawsuit filed by one of your directors, Scott Cousins, against the Unionville Chadds Ford School District," Goodier wrote."In all likelihood, your management committee approved this suit, but in the event that it did not, we would like to bring it to your attention," she added. "We hope you can reflect upon how shockingly racist and tone deaf this suit is....