Former MSU Mascot Sues School, ESPN For Injuries

ABERDEEN, Miss. (WCBI Sports) – A former Mississippi State University mascot has sued MSU and ESPN for injuries suffered during a football game, WCBI confirmed Monday.

Michaela Mills was run over by a motorized television cart while dressed as State’s mascot, Bully, during the 2013 Egg Bowl in Starkville. The collision caused a compound fracture in her lower left leg. Mills had surgery and has said that she still experiences pain.

The Daily Journal first reported the lawsuit.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Aberdeen, stated that Mills was in the mascot costume and on the sidelines during the MSU-Ole Miss football game when the cart struck her. It claimed that “neither the driver nor the spotter were watching the direction of the cart.” It also stated that the costume provided limited visibility for the person wearing it.

The lawsuit alleged that MSU and ESPN, through their employees, failed to maintain proper control of the cart and failed to give warning to Mills. It asked for compensation in excess of $75,000.

Memphis attorney James Steven King stated that Mills’ medical costs were more than $31,000 and her claim would be for $500,000 in a letter to MSU president Mark Keenum in November of 2014.