By Courtney L. Flowers, Ph.D. and Dwalah Fisher, Ed.D.
The University of Idaho (UI) settled a lawsuit for $160,000, which effectively dismissed a former student-athlete’s Title IX claim against the university. The university is mandated to observe Title IX within the meaning of 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. due to receiving financial assistance and federal funding. In the lawsuit, plaintiff Marin Jameson, a former diver, alleged that the institution improperly handled her sexual assault claim against a UI football player in 2013.
Specifically, the plaintiff alleged she was sexually assaulted and harassed by Jahrie Level, a UI football player. Moreover, Jameson and Maggie Miller, a UI distance runner, reported six instances of harassment by Level to Moscow Police Lieutenant Dave Lehmitz and three UI administrators: Athletic Director Rob Spear, Athletics Academic Coordinator Susan Steele, and UI head football coach Paul Petrino (Cripe, 2018).
In the report, both female athletes alleged they had been verbally harassed by the football player. However, Jameson also accused him of sexual assault and unwanted physical contact (Cripe, 2018). Consequently, Jameson pursued criminal charges against Level (Cripe, 2018).
In addition, Jameson filed a federal suit in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho on Oct. 16, 2018 seeking compensatory damages for negligence and emotional distress. Moreover, she cited the institution’s negligence created a hostile educational environment for her and shaped an environment which heightened sexual assault risk on the campus.
Claims against the University of Idaho
After filing a Title IX lawsuit in 2018, Jameson shared her sexual assault experience in a blog. Afterwards the public accusations against Level and the UI prompted the university to conduct an independent investigation of Jameson’s claims (Cripe, 2018).
The investigation found the university failed to follow current Title IX protocols and institutional policies. The former University of Idaho President Chuck Staben supported this notion when he stated the institution “possibly could have prevented Jameson’s assault if officials had properly addressed the previous complaints” (Cripe, 2018).
Further, the Idaho State Board fired Robert Spear citing the athletic director’s actions were “inadequate” during the investigation of Jameson’s sexual assault claims. In her lawsuit, Jameson cited she was told by Spear that the university could not investigate her sexual assault claim because the incident took place off campus. In response to this claim, Spear stated he was operating from an outdated Title IX guidance manual, which did not include off-campus incidents. However, this policy was changed to include off-campus incidents a year before Jameson’s claim (Cripe, 2020).
Also, the independent investigation found Level committed seven violations against the UI Student Code of Conduct. Specifically, reporting five counts against Jameson for sexual assault and harassment. It also cited two counts for harassment and intimidation against Maggie Miller (Cripe, 2018). Subsequently the football player was expelled from the university.
Court findings
In her lawsuit against the University of Idaho, the plaintiff asserted three state law claims (1) negligence, (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress, and (3) negligent infliction of emotional distress. Further, the plaintiff reported two Title IX claims: (1) deliberate creation of a hostile educational environment by mishandling her sexual assault report and (2) due to this breach of duty a heightened sexual assault risk was created on campus.
In response to the suit, the defendants filed a motion asking the court to dismiss Jameson’s complaint and to grant them sovereign immunity as to Jameson’s causes to actions were time-barred.
On Oct. 30, 2018 Chief U.S. District Court Judge, David C. Nye granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss as to the plaintiff’s negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress, hostile educational environment, and heightened risk for sexual assault causes of action. In addition, the defendant’s motion to dismiss was denied as to plaintiff’s second cause of action which was intentional infliction of emotional distress.
State Law Claims against UI
The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s three state laws claims under the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) arguing as an arm of the State of Idaho, they have sovereign immunity from state law claims brought in federal court. Also, there was a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) which challenges the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction. The Court agreed declaring since the state has not waived its sovereign immunity, the Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the state law claims against UI.
Consequently, Jameson’s negligent infliction of emotional distress and two Title IX claims are also dismissed with prejudice pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) which affirms state law claims barred by the Eleventh Amendment should be dismissed with prejudice.
Title IX Claims against UI
The plaintiff’s Title IX claims are based on the University of Idaho’s alleged deliberate failure to prevent harassment. In order to establish this, Jameson had to prove that the harassment deprived her of educational opportunities. Also, she had to prove that UI administrators had notice of her sexual assault claims and responded to the claims with deliberate indifference.
The defendants moved to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 12(b)(6) which permits a court to dismiss if the plaintiff has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Court used state law since Title IX has no express period of limitations and Idaho law applies a two-year statute of limitations to personal injury action. Hence the Court ruled the plaintiff’s first Title IX claim was time-barred.
Although, for the plaintiff’s heightened risk claim, the Court found the second cause of action is sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss. Regarding this claim, Jameson alleged UI’s mishandling of prior sexual harassment claims against Level created an environment which heightened the risk for sexual assault at the University of Idaho. Moreover, James argued that the heightened risk constituted as harassment under Title IX.
However, the parties disagreed over the statute of limitations for a heightened-risk claim. Particularly, Jameson reported her claim was timely because she was unaware of her underlying injury until 2018 when it was disclosed that the university failed to investigate two prior allegations against Level in the independent report. Contrarily, the defendant argued Jameson’s claim was untimely because she was aware of her injury in 2013 when she reported the injury to the institution.
According to the Court, a claim accrues when the plaintiff has been injured and knows who inflicted the injury. The Court stated the complaint was unclear regarding what Jameson knew about UI’s knowledge of the previous sexual assault claims. Hence stating it was plausible that Jameson had no reason to further investigate her heightened-risk claim until after the release of the independent report and the subsequent media coverage in 2018. Therefore, the Court found Jameson’s heightened-risk claim survived a motion to dismiss.
Leave to Amend
In determining whether to grant leave to amend, the Court generally considers five factors: (1) undue delay; (2) bad faith; (3) futility of amendment; (4) prejudice to the opposing party; and (5) whether the plaintiff has previously amended the complaint.
The court reported Jameson could amend her complaint to save her first, third, fourth, and fifth causes of action. Although, Jameson was denied leave to amend those causes of actions.
Courtney L. Flowers, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Texas Southern University. Her research examines the racial and gendered barriers that embody Title IX policies and practices in the interscholastic and intercollegiate athletic systems.
Dwalah Fisher, Ed.D. is the Chair of the Health, Kinesiology, & Sport Studies department and the Assistant Athletic Director/ Senior Woman Administrator for Texas Southern University. Dr. Fisher also serves as the Title IX Deputy Coordinator for Athletics at Texas Southern University.
References
Jameson v. Univ. of Idaho, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 190175
Cripe, C. (2018, August 16). Idaho AD Rob Spear fired by State Board of Education. Retrieved from, https://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/college/university-of-idaho/article216782185.html
Cripe,C. (2018, March 8). University of Idaho botched a sexual assault complaint. It took 5 years to admit it. Retrieved from, https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/article204212454.html#storylink=cpy
Cripe, C. (2020, January 23). UI Settles lawsuit with former athlete in sexual assault case. She’ll work with new AD. Retrieved from, https://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/college/university-of-idaho/article239584513.html
