IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A mistake by state defense lawyers enabled a plaintiff’s attorneys to release an email suggesting the University of Iowa athletics department discriminated against their client and other male candidates during a coaching search.
A spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said it inadvertently failed to mark as confidential the email and thousands of other university documents provided to Michael Scott’s attorneys.

Scott is suing the university for gender bias, contending he was passed over for a job opening on the track and field staff repeatedly because he’s a man. His claims were bolstered last week when his attorneys exclusively gave The Associated Press a copy of the 2013 e-mail in which the head coach told assistants there was a “mandate from the administration to hire a female.”