A federal judge in Nebraska dismissed the claims of four female students who had sued the University of Nebraska, claiming that the school failed to adequately respond to their reports of being sexually assault and harassed by male athletes.
The Chief U.S. District Judge wrote that the school's actions did not reach the threshold of being deliberately indifferent.
The dismissal came almost a year after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in the lawsuit. The university was accused by the DOJ of misinterpreting Title IX sex discrimination laws in its response to the women's lawsuit. The university adopted an unnecessarily restrictive definition of what it means to suffer harassment and discrimination under Title IX according to the DOJ.
A DOJ spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
The judge dismissed the claims of three other female students. He allowed the portion of the lawsuit that did not involve athletes to proceed.
The court acknowledges the severe harm that the two women experienced, and Elizabeth is currently reviewing options for the other women.
The university is pleased with the decision of the court to dismiss seven of the nine people who were involved in the case. The opinion shows the university's confidence in its Title IX process. Every Title IX case is difficult to investigate and we can't comment on the specifics of the case. The University disagrees with some of the factual assertions in the remaining claims.
The Title IX lawsuit was filed in July of 2020 and was brought by nine former female students. Katerian LeGrone and Andre Hunt were both kicked out of the University of Nebraska in April 2020 after being accused of sexually assault a female student, who is not a party to the lawsuit. A jury found LeGrone not guilty after they were criminally charged. Hunt was charged with providing false information to law enforcement.
Hunt and LeGrone were accused of sex offenses, but no criminal charges were brought. One of the women in the Title IX lawsuit alleged that the two men groped her at a party and retaliated against her for reporting them.
The lawsuit claimed that the university did not investigate the allegation of sexual harassment promptly or properly and that neither Hunt nor LeGrone were responsible for it. When she transferred to Texas, Davis was on the Nebraska volleyball team.
The lawsuit states that Davis transferred because of the school's handling of the groping report, as well as an incident in which she said university communications staff advised her to publicly address a false rumor that she was pregnant with the child of a different football player. She said that the university did not support her in dealing with the harassment that came from that incident.
The sexual harassment Davis alleges is completely inappropriate and indecent but it likely does not meet the legal standard for what is considered "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive."
The claims by Davis and other female students that they had been retaliated against by other students, and not the school, had no claim according to Rossiter.
The DOJ attorneys wrote in their June 2021 statement that retaliation by a student's peers, and not just retaliation by the school itself, can support a claim for damages under Title IX.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
