Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Norman K. Moon is expected to hand down a final order to close the case of Dena Bowers v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, et al this week, according to University General Counsel Richard Kast.
The case was not officially brought to trial Tuesday as planned because Moon dropped three of four charges while Bowers' attorney Debbie Wyatt dismissed the fourth.
Wyatt said she plans to file an appeal based on one due process and two freedom-of-speech claims dropped by Moon. The appeal would result in a single case involving Bowers and the University instead of a series of cases.
Wyatt said she and her client dismissed one of two due process claims to consolidate the breadth of charges in the appeal. This claim stated that Bowers did not understand the nature of the University's charge against her before her November 2005 trial.
"We are not yet appealing," Wyatt said. "When we do it, we will probably be appealing on both First Amendment issues."
Wyatt said the claims of freedom-of-speech violation argue that Bowers was unfairly fired for sending an e-mail.
In a November 2005 interview, University spokesperson Carol Wood said Bowers was dismissed from the University for the misrepresentation of the message and the source of the message, as well as a lack of cooperation by Bowers in clarifying that the e-mail was not from her in her official capacity as a University employee.
The e-mail in question contained a file attachment from a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which included possible negative effects of the proposed University charter.
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