July 6, 2008

U. of Nevada at Reno, Facing Dozens of Lawsuits, Spends Big on Outside Legal Help

The University of Nevada at Reno has spent about $1.7-million on outside law firms to help staff lawyers defend against just four of dozens of lawsuits filed by current or former employees, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported. More than 70 complaints — including civil-rights, defamation, discrimination, and wrongful-termination lawsuits — have been filed against the university since 2000, and more than 30 are now working their way through the courts or the appeals process.

The university says most of the cases are meritless and were filed by a single lawyer. But the lawyer, Jeff Dickerson, told the newspaper that he turns away 85 percent of the prospective plaintiffs who ask him to sue the university on their behalf. “Many cases are not taken,” he said, “because although the working environment is hostile, it does not rise to the level of legal liability under the law.”

Two of the four cases that outside lawyers are assisting on were dismissed last month, but Mr. Dickerson said he plans to appeal. He filed those cases on behalf of Hussein S. Hussein, a former professor who says his firing in April was in retaliation for whistle-blowing about the mistreatment of animals at the university. —Charles Huckabee

Comments

1. This is simply how most universities roll. I’ve seen it a thousand times at Universities all over America. They think that they have lawyers on staff. They reason that they don’t pay their faculty members enough to pursue effective legal remedies. And they behave poorly. Oftentimes, this behavior is as a result of a lack of HR training for Dept. Heads, Deans, and VP’s. Often it is a complete disregard for the law and a feeling that the University is a private fifedom that can be controlled and used at the President’s or the VP’s will.

   Sometimes, the VP’s and Dean’s are scared of being forced out by powerful tenured Department Heads who have an axe to grind with a Prof or a Staff member. So the Dean or VP ignore the law and terminate illegally to ensure favor with a powerful subordinate. None of this suprises me. We need dramatically more litigation against unlawful termination and employement practices in Higher Ed to clean up what is common place at most universities!

   — Tech Trainer    Jul 7, 10:10 AM    #

2. It is tough to defend yourself against an entity that is unaccountable for its expenditures. It is easy to see how higher education wins most of the civil suites. They just out spend the plaintiff/s.

   — Dr. Bill    Jul 7, 10:31 AM    #

3. The headline is misleading. It should have read “University of Nevada Reno is attacked by silly lawsuits.” Terms such as Retaliation, Discrimination, Wrongful Termination (Is there any other kind?) and violations of Civil Rights are standard terminology in employment lawsuits. There is nothing new here.

   Typical university leadership is scared of misleading headlines and bad publicity. Even though universities win the vast majority of these cases when they go to trial, the top brass prefer to settle them out of court with all records sealed. The plaintiff’s attorneys know this, and more lawsuits pile on. Note that the plaintiff does not spend a red cent in these situations since the attorney takes the case on a contingency basis. The university gets to bear the cost of defending.

   The details of the final settlement are lost in the shuffle and newspapers do not cover them including The Chronicle. Anyone can file a lawsuit if a willing attorney is available. Winning it is another matter.

   The Chronicle should write a story about how inept legal decisions are made by the universities by settling cases without merit, the root cause of escalating litigation. If University of Nevada Reno spent $1.7M in defending lawsuits, let us congratulate the university. It shows courage in standing up defending the rights of the citizens of Nevada

   — Legal Observer    Jul 7, 11:30 AM    #

4. Isn’t there a mediation process involved before these things get to clog the judicial system? I know these complaints are often without merit, but it costs less to settle in mediation than go through a lawsuit. UNR won’t be able to have expenses covered by the plaintifs even if UNR wins. Standing on principle can be $$$.

   — Wayne    Jul 7, 11:46 AM    #

5. The assumption that these complaints don’t have merit is premature and a main reason these cases went to an Attorney. University Attorneys tend to be poor along with HR.

   — A Tamar    Jul 7, 02:05 PM    #

6. As academics, we have an obligation to seek truth and separate junk from reality. The lawsuits filed against UNR can be seen at the following database:

   http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/SPECIAL04/80703039

   Any casual reader (I am not affiliated in any way with UNR and am not a Nevada resident) can see who files these lawsuits and the similarity of the cases over the years. The school has won every time. Let us applaud UNR for its courageous stand.

   — Legal Observer    Jul 7, 03:27 PM    #

7. UNR is not courageous. They have won nothing yet. The judge in Nevada who threw out those cases are in UNR’s back pocket. These cases will be overturned on appeal when they get to an ethical judge. UNR has not won a single case. The case that went to trial UNR lost and lost big. The jury issued a statement admonishing UNR for their abuse of its employees. Legal observer you are a paid cronie of the administration. To say an attorney would lose no money taking on these cases is ridiculous and ignorant. Why would he spend the time taking on meritless cases? His time lost is money lost. If UNR has nothing to hide go to trial and teach the plaintiff a lesson. The University is under investigation by the Attorney General. Obviously there is some corruption for the AG to commence an investigation of the University!
   See this link:

   http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/NEWS/807060352/1321/NEWS

   — No legal observer    Jul 8, 02:18 PM    #

8. Just based upon a quick look at the database at the Reno Gazette Journal website, it seems like the so called vexatious litigator has won settlements and judgements of at least $384,938 in the last 8 years on dozens of law suits. At least two judgements were for big money and he had a bunch of small settlements, sounds like he’s playing a numbers game. Though, he couldn’t be playing the game for this long without UNR being partially responsible, right?

   — Tony    Jul 9, 02:12 PM    #

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