Defamation Ruling Could Influence Title IX Cases, Policy

Article here. Excerpt:

'Although this will not be the first time a respondent has successfully filed a defamation suit against the student who accused them of assault, Title IX victims’ rights advocates believe that the case could open the door for more such cases.

Elizabeth Tang, senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, fears that the ruling creates a situation where victims are trapped between a rock and a hard place. If their university doesn’t allow the respondent those aforementioned protections, the complainant may be sued and retraumatized during the intensive discovery process, she argued. But if the university does, the Title IX investigation itself will be retraumatizing.

“They have to weigh … which harms they’re going to be willing to endure. For a lot of survivors weighing this pretty impossible choice, they’re probably going to say to themselves, ‘Well, it’s better if I don’t report at all,’” she said.

A group of 15 organizations that advocate against gender-based violence made similar points in an amicus brief that argued for the court to grant Doe immunity.'