Plaintiff’s pre-assault claim survived Niagara University’s motion to dismiss.  The Court held that Niagara had actual knowledge of the heightened risk of sexual assault by male swimmers, and its systemic failure to intervene could be plausibly linked to Jane Doe-2’s sexual assault.  Plaintiffs’ breach of contract and post-assault claims were dismissed.

Plaintiff Jane Doe survives Montana State University’s motion to dismiss. The Court held that the general pleading standard of FRCP Rule 9(b) applies to allegations of intent in Title IX cases. The Court also found sufficient allegations to support a finding of an official policy or custom of discrimination.

John Doe’s lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia was successful in overcoming the defendant’s motion to dismiss. Doe filed a lawsuit against American University alleging that the school mishandled a sexual assault allegation into Doe, which resulted in a year-and-a-half suspension. Plaintiff brought five causes of action, each under Title IX and the D.C. Human Rights Act, two breach of contract claims, and one negligence claim. The District Court granted the University’s motion to dismiss in part, denying the motion on Doe’s Title IX claim, D.C. Human Rights Act claim, as well as several breach of contract claims.

Jane Doe was subjected to years of ongoing employee-on-student sexual misconduct. However, the misconduct never came to the attention of a staff member with the ability to institute corrective action. Without actual knowledge of the misconduct, Defendant school district could not be liable under Title IX. Furthermore, Plaintiff’s §1983 claims failed because Jane was unable to prove the requisite causal link between Defendant’s actions and the injury Jane suffered.

John Doe’s selective enforcement claim will proceed to trial after the Court denies both parties’ motions for summary judgment on the issue. It will be up to the jury to decide whether John was incapacitated and if Syracuse’s decision not to open an investigation into Jane’s potential misconduct was motivated by gender bias. John’s erroneous outcome claim was dismissed because there was insufficient evidence to show gender bias motivated Syracuse’s findings against John.

Student Jane Doe’s Title IX claim survived summary judgment because there was sufficient evidence the University of Alabama’s response to Jane being sexually assaulted was deliberately indifferent