CA JUDGE Orders Pomona to Pay Attorney Fees. Rules Pomona “Denied Him a Fair Hearing”
On Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel ordered Pomona College to pay $130,000 in attorneys’ fees to an accused student in a faulty Title IX administrative process. In setting aside Pomona College’s Title IX decision against the student, the court found that Pomona College had improperly told the complainant that she could answer questions in advance in writing, a procedure not found in Pomona College’s policies. The complainant also refused to attend the campus hearing, in person or by Skype, even though the hearing date was arranged to accommodate her schedule, so “Petitioner was unable to ask the [adjudicator] to pose questions to Roe at the hearing. It is entirely unclear whether the [adjudicator] would have made the same credibility determinations had Roe been questioned. The court finds that cumulatively, these conditions were prejudicial to Petitioner and denied him a fair hearing.”
In ordering Pomona College to pay $130,000 of the student’s legal fees, Judge Strobel found that the accused student’s court appeal “enforced the right to due process in academic sexual harassment investigations and proceedings” and “conferred a significant benefit on the general public or a large class of persons.” California Code of Civil Procedure sec. 1021.5 provides for an award of attorney’s fees when a lawsuit results in a significant public benefit, in this case the right of college and university students to due process in Title IX disciplinary cases.
The student was represented by Mark M. Hathaway
