The University is facing another million-dollar lawsuit following suspended College student Harrison Kerr Tigrett's decision to file a complaint for alleged violations of his Constitutional rights.
Tigrett's $1.5 million lawsuit, filed Oct. 27 in the Western District Court of Virginia, comes five months after his suspension by University President John T. Casteen for his involvement in the Nov. 21, 1997 assault of then-first-year student Alexander "Sandy" Kory above the Ruffner Footbridge on Newcomb Road.
The suit names 30 defendants, including all members of the Board of Visitors, Casteen, William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, as well as eight students involved in the University Judiciary Committee proceedings that first tried Tigrett, Nov. 21, 1998.
According to the complaint, the defendants "acted to deprive Mr. Tigrett of liberty and property without due process of law, thus denying him a right secured by the First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution."
University Spokeswoman Louise Dudley said the University General Counsel would offer legal defense to all involved parties.
She said little information could be released about the University's reaction while the suit is still in court but added that "the University is going to vigorously defend against the charges raised in the lawsuit."
Frank L. Watson Jr., Tigrett's Memphis-based attorney, also declined to comment on case specifics.
"It's probably appropriate that the suit and the court speak for the case in general," Watson said.
According to federal law, the University has until Nov. 17 - 20 days after the original filing of Tigrett's complaint - to serve a response to the suit.
The court will set the briefing and hearing date for Tigrett's requested jury trial after reviewing the University's response, Watson said.
He said Tigrett's complaint is completely separate from the suit suspended student Richard W. Smith and his attorneys filed July 21 concerning Smith's suspension for his role in the assault against Kory.
"This is an independent complaint and should be considered as such," he added.
The legal complications began when Tigrett was not present at his Nov. 21, 1998, student disciplinary hearing.
According to Tigrett's lawsuit, Harmon told him and the other defendants, Smith and Bradley Kintz, that the hearing would be postponed. The trial took place despite the students' absence, a practice that is in accordance with UJC bylaws. The all-student trial panel voted to expel Tigrett, along with the others involved with the assault. Smith, Kintz and Tigrett appealed the UJC's expulsion decision, and were granted a new trial by the Judicial Review Board. The JRB then remanded the case to the UJC. But the UJC retrial, scheduled for April 17, did not take place because the trial chairwoman stepped down from the case and the three student prosecutors resigned for 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 Kory, Smith, Kintz and Tigrett before sending its recommendations to Casteen.
The panel recommended Tigrett and Kintz each be suspended for one semester. Smith, as the primary aggressor, was to be suspended for two semesters with the summer session counting as one semester.
Casteen then upped the sanctions of both Tigrett and Smith, deciding to suspend Tigrett for one year and Smith for two.
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