Plaintiff May Continue to Litigate Claims that Catholic University was Deliberately Indifferent to Her Rape

Students who sue educational institutions for failing to respond to sexual misconduct must meet a high judicial standard of proving that the institution's response amounted to "deliberate indifference." This is a high bar, as the court must find that the institution's response wasn't just flawed, but clearly unreasonable.  Because of this many plaintiffs lose on dispositive motions prior to trial. And so I make a point to blog about the cases that survive such motions, like the one I read today about Catholic University.

In this case, the plaintiff alleged that the university's response to her reported rape was deliberate indifference.  According to her allegations, the university initially declined to discipline the alleged assailant, believing there to be evidence of consent. Then the plaintiff produced a toxicology report that showed her blood alcohol level at the time of intercourse would have been three times the legal limit to drive a car. Thus, she argues, she was clearly too incapacitated to have consented, and so incapacitated that the assailant would have recognized her inability to consent.  Based on this, the university decided (eventually) to conduct a disciplinary hearing.  But, the complaint alleged, the hearing procedures limited the plaintiff's opportunity to present evidence in support of her claim that she was obviously too drunk to consent. As a result, the university found insufficient evidence to find the assailant responsible, a finding upheld on appeal.

The plaintiff's charge of deliberate indifference was supported by allegations that the university's resolution of the case was unreasonably delayed, that its investigation procedures were flawed and lacking, that she was denied procedural rights at the hearing, such as having adequate notice of the date and time, and an opportunity to call certain witnesses. Additionally, she alleged that university officials involved had already made up their minds about the case, and that they treated her with hostility.  And, she claims that the University failed to maintain and to enforce a no-contact order and thus exposed her to continuing harassment throughout her time in college.

The court needed to consider only two of these claims before reaching the conclusion that she had adequately plead deliberate indifference. First, the court reasoned that a jury could find deliberate indifference if the plaintiff proves her allegations of delay -- primarily, the allegations that the university took eight months to hold the disciplinary hearing. This is notable because the lower courts are pretty mixed about whether delay can qualify as deliberate indifference.  The other allegations that the court credited were the ones about university's failure to enforce the no-contact order; these too could give rise to liability under Title IX if they prove true. With two reasons to deny the motion to dismiss, the court decided it did not need to evaluate whether any of the plaintiff's remaining allegations of deliberate indifference would have independently support liability as well.

Of course, surviving a motion to dismiss is only a preliminary victory for the plaintiff. As the court pointed out, she is still vulnerable to dismissal at summary judgment if evidence to support these allegations does not emerge.  And of course, the jury would have an opportunity to decide if the evidence supports the conclusion that the university was deliberately indifferent.  But enough cases stumble on that preliminary step that this one is worth noting.

 Cavalier v. Catholic Univ. of Am., 2018 WL 1524743 (D.D.C. Mar. 27, 2018)