Richard Smith filed a $1.25 million lawsuit against the University last week, claiming his constitutional due process rights were violated during his disciplinary proceedings.
The suit named all Board of Visitors members, President John T. Casteen III, William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, and the seven University Judiciary Committee members who tried and expelled Smith Nov. 21. The suit does not seek damages against the students.
According to a statement released by Francis McQ. Lawrence, Smith's Charlottesville attorney, "the University shirked the constitutional and contractual obligations it owed Richard, putting him in danger on campus, ruining his reputation, and trampling on the very rights that Mr. Jefferson's University purports to embody."
The statement further calls for the correction of "the irresponsible and illegal administration of student discipline at the University."
Casteen suspended Smith for two years for his involvement in the Nov. 21, 1997 assault on then first-year College student Alexander "Sandy" Kory above the Ruffner Footbridge on Newcomb Road.
Kory has said he sustained a broken jaw and incurred $3,000 in medical expenses from the attack.
University Relations Director Louise Dudley said the University received the lawsuit July 22.
"The lawsuit will be rigorously defended, as the University took action that it believed to be proper and fair," Dudley said.
In the lawsuit, Smith claims that Kory "set out to use the University of Virginia disciplinary proceedings to develop the threat of a civil case against Mr. Smith. Mr. Kory received more help than he possibly could have hoped for from Defendants, who condemned Mr. Smith without even offering him the chance to be heard."
But Kory denied those claims.
"I obviously disagree with all that," he said. "I strongly disagree with those claims."
He added that he has spoken with his attorneys and has not decided if he will file a civil suit against Smith.
Smith was not present at his November student disciplinary hearing. He has said that Harmon told him the hearing would be postponed. The trial took place despite Smith's absence, a practice that is in accordance with UJC bylaws.
The all-student trial panel voted to expel Smith, Harrison Kerr Tigrett and Bradley Kintz, now all rising fourth-year College students.
Smith, Kintz and Tigrett appealed the UJC's decision and were granted a new trial by the Judicial Review Board.
But the UJC retrial, scheduled for April 17, did not take place as the trial chairwoman stepped down from the case and the three student prosecutors resigned in fear of being sued.
The UJC then sent the case to Harmon for adjudication. A Harmon-appointed fact-finding panel convened May 17 and listened to testimony from both sides before sending its recommendations to Casteen.
The panel recommended that Smith be suspended for two semesters, with the summer session counting as one semester, and that Tigrett and Kintz each be suspended for one semester.
Casteen then upped the sanctions of both Smith and Tigrett, deciding to suspend Smith for two years and Tigrett for one. He adopted the panel's sanction recommendation for Kintz.
Among several points, the lawsuit argues that Casteen violated Smith's due process rights.
"Without providing Mr. Smith with notice or an opportunity to be heard, Defendant John Casteen, President of the University, rejected the findings of the panel that had heard the evidence and made his own findings ... Defendant Casteen, the true decision-maker, gave Mr. Smith no hearing at all; he merely rendered an edict-and rendered it arbitrarily, capriciously, and without due process of law," the lawsuit states.
Casteen said he does not comment on current litigation.
While the lawsuit does not seek monetary compensation from any students, it does name seven.
Fourth-year College student Liz Summers, one of the student prosecutors who resigned from the case in April, said a lawsuit seemed inevitable when she was on the case.
"Basically, we knew that night [of the April pre-trial hearing] they were building a lawsuit," Summers said. "I'm not surprised at all."
She said that the defense counsel utilized a "bully tactic" throughout the proceedings.
"Frankly, it's scary," said Jonathan Carr, College UJC representative and fourth-year College student. "You never expect that you could be sued for just doing your job."
The student judges "were just doing a job they were elected to do," Carr said.
He said he "hopes the University does everything they can to make sure these students are protected."
Harmon and UJC Chairman Brian Hudak declined to comment.
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