The Mississippi Supreme Court has overturned a $1.2 million jury verdict against the University of Southern Mississippi in a sexual harassment and gender discrimination case brought by three former coaches of its women's soccer program.

The ruling by a three-judge panel in John Mollaghan and John Vincent v. Sonya Varnell and University of Southern Mississippi and Sonya Varnell v. Ged O'Connor was issued last week but announced Monday.

Messrs. Vincent and Mollaghan had been women's soccer team coaches at the Hattiesburg, Miss.-based university, while Mr. O'Connor had been a graduate assistant coach. Ms. Varnell is the senior administrator for women's sports for the university.

The three men had alleged violation of their due process, sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation, and other charges under various federal and state laws.

The men claimed that when Ms. Varnell and Richard Giannini, the university's then-athletic director and another defendant, were named to their positions in 1999, they made it clear they preferred women to coach women's sports.

After players complained about the soccer program, Mr. Vincent was reassigned to a teaching position and Messrs. Mollaghan and O'Connor eventually accepted positions elsewhere.

The three men filed suit, and a jury awarded Mr. Vincent $500,000, Mr. Mollaghan $376,000 and Mr. O'Connor $300,000 in 2008.

The Mississippi Supreme Court held there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict in all three cases.

The court's ruling included its analysis of incidents presented by Mr. O'Connor, where he said Ms. Varnell offered him a bed in his hotel and made a comment of “You're so nasty, you're so nasty” after he offered her part of his Subway sandwich.

The court said the incidents could not be considered sexual harassment because neither “involved physically threatening conduct nor did they interfere with O'Connor's work performance.”

It said also the bed offered by Ms. Varnell was an extra one, and the offer was made after “she heard other coaches teasing O'Connor about spending the night in a hotel room with another man they suspected to be homosexual.”