RULING: Judge Approves Male’s Suit Claiming Carleton College Ignored Exculpatory Evidence In TIX Case
A federal judge recommended an expelled student’s lawsuit proceed against his college on claims of negligence in its sexual assault investigation of him. In a “report and recommendation” issued to U.S. District Judge Michael Davis last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois found that Taariq Vanegas had “plausibly alleged” that Carleton College had “breached its duty of reasonable care” in the Title IX investigation. Vanegas sued Carleton College alleging that it hid exculpatory evidence from him. A Title IX official told Jane Doe that she wouldn’t be punished for underage drinking if she reported her sexual encounter with Vanegas as assault.
Judge Brisbois said Carleton may have “breached its duty of reasonable care” by “conducting an unreasonably rushed investigation and hearing” that led Dunnewold the investigator, and the panel to ignore evidence favorable to Vanegas. “Although a misconduct proceeding is not required to be flawless, the unreasonable failure to conduct a thorough investigation and/or the unreasonable failure to consider relevant evidence may in some circumstances amount to a breach of a university’s duty of reasonable care,” Brisbois wrote. That means Vanegas has also plausibly alleged that he incurred damages that were “proximately caused” by Carleton’s failure to provide reasonable care.
Even while dismissing all but one of the student’s claims, the judge allowed Vanegas to replead all but one of those dismissed claims, saying he might be able to allege a “set of facts under which” the student could meet his threshold.
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