GOOD NEWS. Judge Dismisses Suit Stemming From 2005 Dartmouth Encounter
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Dartmouth College student stemming from a drunken encounter 15 years ago she has asserted turned into a sexual assault. The other party in the case, who was a Tuck School of Business student at the time, says they had consensual sex and has filed a countersuit.
In the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York, Monica Morrison asked the court for a ruling that would protect her from future defamation claims if she ever spoke publicly about the May 2005 incident, saying the ability to speak about it constitutes a First Amendment right. Morrison, who was a 19-year-old sophomore at the time, said she was drunk during the encounter and that Robert Langrick, was a 29-year-old Tuck student. The pair met at a Dartmouth fraternity party, and Langrick contends that he too had been drinking and that they had consensual intercourse that night in a group house belonging to an undergraduate society where Morrison was living at the time.
Hanover police investigated the incident and never charged Langrick with any sex crime. Langrick argued in a motion this spring that Morrison’s lawsuit sought “hypothetical advisory opinions” that the judge could not issue. In the order filed July 9, Judge Carol Bagley Amon sided with Langrick, saying that the court does not have “subject jurisdiction” to rule on hypothetical situations. She dismissed the claims with prejudice, meaning Morrison cannot file them again. Langrick’s attorney, Andrew Phillips, said that “these claims were meritless from the outset and brought solely in an attempt to garner publicity.” vnews.com-A.Merriman
For Background Read: Complicated Lawsuit. If You Drink, & Have Consent Sex, A MeToo Activist Could Ruin You 14 Years Later Claiming Regret Rape.
