Amid tougher repercussions for campus sex assault, more men sue accusers

Article here. Excerpt:

'As Yee Xiong prepared to leave the sentencing hearing for a man she said sexually assaulted her at an off-campus apartment when they were students, she felt ready to finally put the case behind her after four years. Then, she was handed a $4 million defamation lawsuit.

The lawsuit from Lang Her, who pleaded no contest to felony assault, stated that Xiong and three of her siblings colluded to alienate him from the close-knit ethnic Hmong community and called him a rapist on Facebook.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Xiong said it was like a “slap to the face,” what she saw as a way for Her to “continue to harass my family and me.”

While such lawsuits have long been a legal strategy, experts say, some of the accused may feel they must seek to clear their names in court at a time of increased focus on campus sex assaults and more serious consequences at schools.

“Being labeled ‘rapist’ now has more power than it did 10 years ago,” said Emily Austin of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault. “The impact could be, if these become more common, that survivors are going to double-think reporting, afraid anything they’re saying could be grounds for a lawsuit against them personally.”

Eric Rosenberg, an Ohio lawyer who has represented clients suing their accusers and universities, said many of the accused suffer damaged reputations and lost educational and career prospects.

“There is no bigger stain on a person in this culture than being labeled as a sexual assailant, and that’s what they’re labeled as,” said Rosenberg, who has filed or acted as a consultant for more than half a dozen such lawsuits in the past five years.'