A WIN For the Falsely Accused. CA Judge Orders Chico State to Set Aside Expulsion of Male
On May 30, 2018 Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant entered judgment against California State University, Chico and ordered the university to set aside the expulsion of an accused male student resulting from a faulty Title IX sexual misconduct investigation. In the ruling granting the student’s court appeal, Judge Chalfant found that the university gave the student inadequate notice of the charges and “Chico State failed to follow fair procedure, and CSU policy in not providing [the student] with the evidence against him, and an opportunity to rebut it, before making a decision on his guilt.” In addition, Chico State failed to give the student the opportunity to pose questions to the complainant or other witnesses. Chico State initiated their Title IX investigation in August 2015, when Chico State students Jane Roe and her then boyfriend accused John Doe of sexually assaulting Ms. Roe seven months earlier. In February 2015, Jane Roe began dating her boyfriend but also engaged in sexual activity with a guy who was not her boyfriend, ie: John Doe. Roe and Doe had sex at an off-campus party, in a laundry room and outside in an alley. After having sex, Jane gave John her cell phone number and stayed at the party with her friends. Months later when Roe’s boyfriend heard rumors about the sexual encounter, he confronted his girlfriend, Roe. Jane Roe [lied] and told her boyfriend, “I was raped by John.” The boyfriend “threw a hissy fit” and initiated the Title IX investigation of John Doe. Jane Roe told the Title IX investigator that she had been incapacitated by alcohol at the party, but regained capacity at some point while performing oral sex on John Doe in the alley outside the party house. Jane Roe also claimed she had secretly recorded the encounter, but when asked to produce the recording, she said the recording had been deleted. John Doe v. Trustees of Calif. State Univ., Los Angeles Superior Court case no. BS167261
Mark M. Hathaway and Jenna E. Eyrich, Werksman Jackson Hathaway & Quinn represented the student, Petitioner.
