TWO APPEALS. One Court Rejects TIX Suit by Mr. Klocke, Dad of Accused Student Who Killed Himself. One Court Ruled in Favor on Klocke’s Defamation Claim
An appeals court knocked down a lawsuit filed by the estate of a Texas student who took his own life after being found responsible for harassing a gay student. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that Thomas Klocke’s estate hadn’t shown that the case was about “sexual harassment.” The three-judge panel didn’t buy the estate’s argument that the school erred in classifying the case under harassment, and not sexual harassment. The latter classification would have allowed Klocke to receive “procedural protections” such as a “hearing before a neutral decision maker.” The court also shut down the selective-enforcement claim by claiming the estate had not provided evidence that a “person of the opposite sex was in circumstances sufficiently similar to plaintiff’s and was treated more favorably by defendant.”
Thomas Klocke was close to completing his studies in May 2017 and hoped to continue his studies at grad or law school. Instead, he took his own life. Thomas Klocke had insisted the gay student, Nicholas Watson, made repeated “unwelcome sexual advances” toward him, and then accused Klocke to protect himself from similar allegations. The suit alleged that a UTA official biased toward Watson had purposely redirected the proceeding outside of Title IX to avoid giving Klocke the protections he was owed. Despite the conflicting narratives, the UTA official believed Watson.
While the 5th Circuit has shut down the case against UTA, it ruled in favor of Klocke’s estate last month on the defamation case against Watson. In that case, a different three-judge panel found the district court’s use of Texas law to shut down the defamation claim was at odds with federal law, and remanded the case to the trial level. Kenneth Chaiken, lawyer for Wayne Klocke, said the Klockes will continue their litigation efforts.
thecollegefix-Ethan Berman
