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Latest Cases & Developments
Date:
Wilson v. Johnson (N.D. Ind. Nov. 20, 2023)
Opinion and Order granting Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiffs, three former members of the cross-country and track and field teams at Huntington University, brought Title IX deliberate indifference claims against the University, alleging that their former head coach, who was later arrested, subjected them to a hostile environment, unwanted touching, and other assaults. Plaintiffs also alleged that the coach had engaged in sexual relationships with two student-athletes and that two assistant coaches were aware of the relationships and should have known of other inappropriate behavior. In dismissing plaintiffs’ claims without prejudice, the court found insufficient factual allegations that an appropriate person had actual knowledge of the alleged abuse.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Sexual Misconduct | Sex DiscriminationDate:
Doe v. Rowan Univ. (D. N.J. Oct. 10, 2023)
Opinion denying Plaintiff’s Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order. Plaintiff, a former graduate student at Rowan University, brought Title IX discrimination and retaliation claims against the University and a former professor after she twice failed required qualifying exams and was dismissed from the program. Plaintiff had previously failed a first-year research project and her master’s thesis defense. While the appeal of her dismissal was pending, she filed a Title IX complaint with the University, alleging that the professor, who was also a grader for the qualifying exams, had made unwanted advances two years earlier. In denying plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order, the court found that she was unlikely to succeed on her discrimination claim since the University had her exam blindly re-scored by two new graders after she filed her Title IX complaint. It ruled she was unlikely to succeed on her Title IX retaliation claim due to the weak nexus between her rejection of the alleged advances and the program’s acts of placing her on academic probation and seeking to dismiss her, which both took place more than a year later.
Topics:
Academic Performance and Misconduct | Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Sexual Misconduct | Retaliation | Sex Discrimination | StudentsDate:
Locke v. N.C. State Univ. (E.D. N.C. Sep. 11, 2023)
Order granting the University’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, a former soccer player at North Carolina State University, brought Title IX claims against the University, alleging that between 2015 and 2017 the team trainer, who was also the University’s director of sports medicine, abused him sexually, including by directing him to shower in front of him and touching him inappropriately under the guise of performing a sports massage. After plaintiff reported the abuse to law enforcement in 2021, a Title IX investigation found that in early 2016 the head soccer coach notified the senior associate athletic director that he suspected the trainer was engaged in sexual grooming of male student-athletes. The trainer was moved to more administrative duties but remained with the University. In related cases, plaintiffs John Doe and John Doe 2 also made similar claims. In dismissing plaintiffs’ Title IX claims, the court held the report of suspected sexual grooming was insufficient to allege that an official with the authority to take corrective measures had actual notice of the abuse.
Topics:
Discrimination, Accommodation, & Diversity | Employee Sexual Misconduct | Sex Discrimination | Student Athlete Issues | Students
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