BOSTON (Legal Newsline) – A Delaware man who is currently a student at Harvard University alleges the school is discarding its own policies in a sexual assault allegation case.
John Doe filed a complaint on Nov. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against Harvard University alleging breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff enrolled as an undergraduate student of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences in August 2016. The suit states in the summer 2017, he was working at an internship off-campus and engaged in sexual activity with Ms. Roe, who is not a Harvard student. The suit states Roe now alleges the activity was not consented to and that the plaintiff raped her, which he alleges is false.
He alleges the university proposes to subject him to campus disciplinary processes "in direct defiance of the university’s crystal-clear policy ...barring it from exercising jurisdiction in circumstances like these," according to the suit.
"Harvard’s proposed campus proceeding is not about vindicating or protecting Ms. Roe, or any other member of the Harvard community, because no one is claiming that Mr. Doe presents a danger to Ms. Roe while he is at Harvard (or elsewhere), nor does he present any danger to any other Harvard student," the suit states.
The plaintiff alleges the university has no jurisdiction to pursue the case.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, compensatory damages of more than $75,000, plus costs and such other and further relief as the court deems just and proper. He is represented by Rebecca LeGrand of LeGrand Law PLLC in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts case number 1:18-cv-12462-IT