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  • Date:

    Williams v. Morgan State Univ. (Md. Aug. 14, 2023)

    Opinion answering a certified question.  Plaintiff, a former Director of Broadcast Operations at Morgan State University, brought state-law wrongful termination and defamation claims and federal retaliation claims under the National Defense Authorization Act and the American Recovery Reinvestment Act against the University and multiple officials after she was terminated purportedly for alleging violations federal law.  The district court dismissed plaintiff’s federal claims, finding that the Maryland Tort Claims Act (MTCA) did not waive the State’s sovereign immunity with respect to the claims.  In answering a question certified to it by the Fourth Circuit, the Maryland Supreme Court held that “a tort action” under the MTCA does not include federal statutory claims, noting that “there is no evidence that the General Assembly intended to include federal statutory claims within the scope of the MTCA” and that a contrary approach “would produce results that are inconsistent with the MTCA’s main purposes.” 

    Topics:

    Faculty & Staff | Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Retaliation | Tort Litigation

  • Date:

    Doe v. Haverford Coll (E.D. Pa. Aug. 7, 2023)

    Memorandum granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.  Plaintiff is a recent graduate of Haverford College and a former co-captain of a varsity sports team.  Following rumors that he had sexually assaulted a female student, plaintiff, at his coach’s suggestion, emailed teammates that he would “briefly step away from the team,” but after the Title IX Office declined to open an investigation, the coach denied his request to rejoin the team, citing other players’ concerns.  Plaintiff brought contract, defamation, and Title IX claims against the College and his former coach.  The court permitted his contract claim against the college to proceed, finding he had sufficiently alleged a breach of the College’s Sexual Misconduct Policy, which stated that it would not impose a disciplinary sanction “arising from an allegation of Sexual Misconduct without holding a Hearing and permitting an Appeal, unless otherwise resolved through an Alternative Resolution Process.”  The court also permitted his defamation claim against the coach to proceed, finding that statements about the alleged assault and about plaintiff’s mental health made in a meeting with administrators and plaintiff’s co-captains were defamatory and that any determination that the statements were privileged or protected opinion was premature at this point.  It dismissed his Title IX claim, however, finding he had not alleged that he was excluded or harassed on the basis of his sex. 

    Topics:

    Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Sexual Misconduct | Title IX & Student Sexual Misconduct | Tort Litigation

  • Date:

    Edwards v. Cal. Univ. of Pa. (W.D. Pa. Aug. 4, 2023)

    Opinion granting-in-part and denying-in-part Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss. Plaintiff, the administrator of the estate of a football player at California University of Pennsylvania who died of COVID-19 in September 2020, brought substantive due process and state-law claims against the University, alleging that it took insufficient measures “to prevent or mitigate the spread of COVID-19” when it permitted student-athletes to return to campus for Fall 2020. In dismissing plaintiff’s substantive due process claims with prejudice, the court held that plaintiff failed to allege conduct that shocks the conscience, noted the numerous mitigation actions taken by the University mentioned in plaintiff’s factual allegations. The court deferred a decision on exercising supplemental jurisdiction over plaintiff’s state-law claims pending consideration of claims against one defendant who did not appear in this action.  

    Topics:

    Campus Police, Safety, & Crisis Management | Constitutional Issues | Coronavirus | Due Process | Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Tort Litigation

  • Date:

    Askin v. Univ. of Notre Dame (Ky. Ct. App. July 28, 2023)

    Opinion affirming summary judgment in favor of the University. Plaintiff, a former football player at the University of Notre Dame in the 1980s and later in the NFL who suffers from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), brought personal injury claims against the University, alleging that his CTE was the result of multiple concussions he experienced as a student-athlete. In affirming summary judgment in favor of the University, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky held that plaintiff’s claims were time barred, noting that under the discovery rule his claims accrued in 2014 when he was put on notice of the harm through a discussion with a pain management nurse of pending litigation with the NFL, rather than in 2018 when he was diagnosed with CTE. 

    Topics:

    Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration | Student Athlete Issues | Students | Tort Litigation

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