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In the past, accused students who sued their colleges only sought to have their transcripts cleared so they could transfer and not suffer adverse consequences. But inspired by Johnny Depp’s successful 2022 defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, falsely accused persons are now suing their former schools for large dollar awards.
Following are five high-dollar lawsuits that were resolved or filed in just the past year:
Pacific University, OR: A jury awarded $3.9 million to Peter Steele, falsely accused of sexual assault. The jury agreed that “Pacific University’s conduct constituted an extraordinary transgression of the bounds of socially tolerable conduct or exceeded any reasonable limits of social toleration.”
Thomas Jefferson University, PA: During a 2018 party, surgical resident Jessica Phillips forced whiskey into faculty member John Abraham’s mouth and began to aggressively kiss him. She pulled him to the floor, where they had sex. But inexplicably, the university failed to investigate his complaint of sexual assault. Last December, a jury decided in favor of Abraham, awarding him $15 million for the university’s “outrageous conduct.”
University of Detroit-Mercy, MI: A college counselor at University of Detroit-Mercy initiated an unauthorized investigation against a student who had been falsely accused at another school. In April the student filed a lawsuit, charging “the University’s egregious lack of any semblance of fair process whatsoever in connection with same.” The lawsuit seeks actual, compensatory, and punitive damages.
Yale University, CT: The Associated Press recently reported on a defamation lawsuit that was filed in May against 15 women’s advocacy groups. Saif Khan, acquitted of sex assault charges during a trial in 2018, was called a “rapist” in a court brief that the groups filed in 2022. The lawsuit seeks financial damages. “We would like for them to understand that there is harm to someone when you just label them,” explained Khan’s attorney.
Hofstra University, NY: Two weeks ago, John Doe filed a lawsuit against Hofstra University, after the institution allegedly failed to address the harassment and retaliation he suffered after his former romantic partner defamed him for being a “rapist.” The lawsuit accuses the institution of “condoning and/or failing to adequately address severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive gender-based harassment and retaliation, which resulted in Plaintiff being compelled to withdraw from the University.” (Source: Case 2:24-cv-06146-SIL. Filed 09/03/24.)
To date, over 800 lawsuits have been filed by students against colleges alleging Title IX and related violations. Thus far, 280 cases have been resolved in favor of the falsely accused student, with hundreds of other cases resolved via confidential settlements (see here, here, here).
Many of these campus adjudications appear to have been driven by an aggrieved sense of “mob justice,” which bears little resemblance to democratic ideals of impartiality, fairness, and the presumption of innocence. College administrators should work to remove the perception of Kangaroo Court procedures, or face legislative consequences.
