United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit ____________ FILED October 12, 2023 No. 22-30670 Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk Sharon Lewis,

Plaintiff—Appellant,

versus

Garrett Danos, Individually, also known as Hank; Robert Yarborough, Individually, also known as Bobby; Stanley Jacobs, Individually; Vicki Crochet, Individually; Robert Barton, Individually, also known as Bob; Leslie Edwin Miles, Individually, also known as Les; Scott Woodward, Individually; Verge Ausberry, Individually; Miriam Segar, Individually; William Shelby McKenzie, Individually; Joseph Alleva, Individually, also known as Joe,

Defendants—Appellees. ______________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana USDC No. 3:21-CV-198 ______________________________

Before Wiener, Southwick, and Duncan, Circuit Judges. Jacques L. Wiener, Jr., Circuit Judge: In 2012 and 2013, Plaintiff-Appellant Sharon Lewis—then an Assistant Athletic Director at Louisiana State University (“LSU”)— internally reported Head Football Coach Les Miles for sexually harassing Case: 22-30670 Document: 00516928807 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/12/2023

No. 22-30670

students. LSU retained outside counsel—Taylor, Porter, Brooks & Phillips LLP (“Taylor Porter”)—to investigate the matter, culminating in a formal report dated May 15, 2013 (the “Taylor Porter Report”). That report and its contents were kept internal. Matters were privately settled, and Miles stayed on as head coach until 2016. Lewis alleges that Defendants-Appellees—members of LSU’s Board of Supervisors (the “Board”), leadership, and athletics department, along with lawyers at Taylor Porter (“Taylor Porter Defendants” and, collectively, “Defendants”)—engaged in a concerted effort to illegally conceal the Taylor Porter Report and Miles’s wrongdoings. Lewis also alleges workplace retaliation for having reported Miles. She brings both employment and civil RICO claims. The district court dismissed Lewis’s RICO-related allegations as time-barred and inadequately pleaded as to causation. We now review and AFFIRM that dismissal. I. Lewis initiated her suit after widespread sexual misconduct in LSU’s athletics program was reported by USA Today in a November 2020 article (the “Article”). USA Today went on to file a public document request for the Taylor Porter Report. That request was litigated in Louisiana state court. See Jacoby v. Galligan, No. C-703746 (La. 19th Jud. Dist. Ct.). USA Today prevailed, and a redacted copy of the Taylor Porter Report was released to the public. Concurrently, LSU retained new counsel—Husch Blackwell LLP—to investigate the Article’s alleged incidents, including those related to Miles. That investigation generated another formal report dated March 3, 2021 (the “Husch Blackwell Report”). LSU released the Husch Blackwell Report a day after the Taylor Porter Report was made public. In April 2021, Lewis filed the instant suit. In it, she alleged employment and professional harms, bringing cl