Gischel v. Univ. of Cincinnati
Gischel v. Univ. of Cincinnati
Opinion of the Court
This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's *965First Amended Complaint (Doc. 11).
I. BACKGROUND
The well-pleaded allegations of fact in the First Amended Complaint (Doc. 10) and the Exhibits attached thereto (Docs. 1-2 to 1-48)
A. The Parties
Plaintiff Tyler Gischel is a former student at UC, a public university in Ohio. Defendant Jyl Shaffer is UC's former Title IX Coordinator and the investigator for the Title IX complaint filed with UC by a female student, Jennifer Schoewe, against Gischel. Defendant William Richey is a UC Police Department detective. Defendant Daniel Cummins is UC's Associate Dean of Students and the Director of the Office of Judicial Affairs. Defendant Brice Mickey is a UC administrator and served as the chair of the Administrative Review Committee ("ARC") panel that adjudicated Schoewe's complaint and disciplined Gischel. Defendants Carol Tonge Mack and Arnett Glassco are UC administrators and also served on the ARC panel. Defendant Rachel Smith is a professor at the UC College of Law and served as the University Appeals Administrator who reviewed and denied Gischel's appeal. (Doc. 10 at PageID 725-27.)
B. The Alleged Assault
Gischel and Schoewe met at an off-campus party hosted by a UC student during the overnight hours on August 22-23, 2015. (Doc. 1-12 at PageID 331-44.) Both Gischel and Schoewe consumed alcohol at the party. Witnesses described Schoewe as the most intoxicated person at the party, who stumbled and slurred her words. (Id. at PageID 367-74.) A group of students went to a pizza restaurant around midnight or 1:00 a.m. Id. Schoewe kissed Gischel. (Id. at 370, 395.) Gischel asserts that Schoewe also grabbed his penis outside the pizza place. (Id. at PageID 395.) Gischel and his friend, another male student, offered to walk Schoewe home when she indicated that she wanted to leave. (Id. at PageID 373.) The friend became separated from Gischel and Schoewe when he was stopped by an officer asking about an unrelated matter. (Id. ) Gischel texted him around 3:30 a.m. that Schoewe was making wrong turns and did not remember where she lived. (Id. at PageID 411-13.) Gischel texted his friend again between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. that Schoewe did not want to return to her student housing and asked to go to his apartment instead. (Id. at PageID 373-76; 411-13.) Gischel asserts that Schoewe expressly consented to having intercourse with Gischel when they arrived at his apartment. (Id. at PageID 392, 398.) After they had intercourse, Gischel asserts that he did not walk Schoewe home because she wanted to go to another party. (Id. at PageID 391-92, 413.) Schoewe texted *966friends the next day that she was okay. (Id. at PageID 387.)
C. Investigation and Proceedings against Gischel
At some point between August 23 and 25, 2015, Schoewe spoke to her boyfriend and her mother, Rebecca Schoewe. Rebecca Schoewe called the UC Police Department on August 25, 2015 and spoke to Defendant William Richey expressing a concern that her daughter had been raped over the weekend. (Id. at PageID 334-35.) Schoewe herself reported the incident to Jyl Shaffer, the UC Title IX Coordinator, that same day, and then she spoke with Detective Richey on August 26, 2015. (Id. at PageID 331-32, 336.) She reported that she had blacked out on the night of the incident, that she did not believe she had consumed enough alcohol to cause her to black out, and that she suspected she had been drugged. She reported that she woke up in her apartment feeling unwell, that her underwear was missing when she woke up, and that she thought she had been sexually assaulted while unconscious. (Id. ) UC determined not to do Title IX notifications until Schoewe decided whether to pursue criminal charges. (Id. at PageID 338.) By September 4, 2015, Detective Richey knew Schoewe wanted to pursue both criminal charges and a Title IX complaint against Gischel.
Detective Richey and non-party UC Police Officer Jennifer McMahon interviewed Gischel on September 16, 2015 without informing him that he was the subject of either a criminal or Title IX investigation. Gischel waived his Miranda rights and provided his version of the events to the officers. (Id. at PageID 388-406.) Detective Richey was the primary interrogator. (Id. ) On September 18, 2015, Shaffer gave Gischel notice of the Title IX complaint against him.
On October 16, 2015, UC placed Gischel on an interim suspension. Almost four months later, on February 3, 2016, Shaffer sent her Title IX investigative report to Daniel Cummins, UC's Assistant Dean of Students and the Director of the Office of Judicial Affairs ("OUJA"). Cummins advised Gischel that same day that Schoewe's complaint had been referred to OUJA and stated that a procedural review was scheduled for February 12, 2016. Gischel was informed that he had the right to bring an attorney to the procedural review. (Doc. 1-11 at PageID 316.)
On February 9, 2016, UC received notice that the federal Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights ("OCR") had opened an investigation into UC upon Schoewe's complaint that UC "fail[ed] to promptly and adequately respond to complaints, reports and/or incidents of sexual violence" and that students like Schoewe "were subjected to a sexually hostile environment." (Doc. 1-5 at PageID 180.) Schoewe had filed the Title IX complaint against UC with the OCR on November 23, 2015. (Id. ) UC did not inform Gischel about the pending OCR investigation at any time during the disciplinary investigation or proceedings against him.
On February 25, 2016, Cummins informed Gischel that a hearing would be held before an ARC panel on March 15, 2016 to determine if Gischel had broken Student Code of Conduct policies regarding a violation of law, physical harm or abuse, harassment or discrimination, or of UC's Title IX policies and statements. (Doc. 1-11 at PageID 318-20.) Gischel was given a deadline of February 29, 2016 to submit the identity of witnesses and evidence he would present at the ARC hearing. (Id. ) He was informed that he could have an advisor, including an attorney, at the hearing. (Id. )
*967On March 15, 2016, Shaffer appeared at the ARC hearing with Schoewe. The hearing lasted less than two hours. Schoewe and Gischel were both given the opportunity to submit questions. The ARC panel asked Gischel almost all of Schoewe's questions. Gischel submitted 63 questions, but the ARC panel refused to ask Schoewe questions about two topics important to Gischel. (Doc. 1-11 at PageID 325-29.) First, it refused to ask Schoewe questions about whether she had a personal or romantic relationship with Detective Richey, questions designed to establish that Detective Richey acted inappropriately or was biased. Detective Richey did not appear at the hearing. Second, the ARC panel refused to ask Schoewe questions intended to disprove that Schoewe was incapacitated on the night of the incident.
The ARC panel recommended that Gischel be held responsible as follows:
You are found responsible for violating provision(s) of the Student Code of Conduct specifically, Violation of Law, Physical Abuse or Harm, Harassment or Discrimination, and Violation of University Policies or Rules, most specifically University Policy Statement on Sex Offenses.
(Id. at PageID 323.) On March 28, 2016, non-party Denine Rocco, the Assistant Vice President of Students Affairs and Dean of Students, accepted the recommendation of the ARC panel and imposed a sanction of immediate permanent dismissal.
Gischel appealed the decision on March 29, 2016 to Rachel Smith, the University Appeals Administrator, based on alleged violations of UC's own policies, Title IX, and his due process rights. Smith issued a letter dated April 18, 2016 denying the appeal. (Doc. 1-7 at PageID 196.) She considered only the procedural arguments in accordance with the scope of her authority. (Id. ) She concluded that the ARC panel did not commit procedural error by refusing to ask questions proffered by Gischel regarding Detective Richey's alleged bias or Schoewe's level of intoxication. (Id. ) Gischel points out that Smith used the term "intoxication," not the term "incapacitation." UC's Title IX policy defined the term "consent" to include that a "person cannot give consent if he or she is mentally or physically incapacitated or impaired such that the person cannot understand the fact, nature or extent of the sexual situation." (Doc. 1-2 at PageID 107-08.) However, UC's Policy Statement on Sex Offenses, effective August 15, 2012, states under the definition of sexual assault that "[l]egally, consent cannot be given while intoxicated or medicated since these states inhibit an aware state of mind." (Id. at PageID 119, 124.)
D. The Alleged Bias of Detective Richey
Gischel attached to the Complaint evidence purporting to show the existence of an improper relationship between Detective Richey and Schoewe, or at least evidence of Detective Richey's bias in favor of Schoewe. Detective Richey conducted the only interrogation of Gischel, he spoke multiple times with Schoewe during the course of the investigation, and he obtained statements from five witnesses about Schoewe's level of intoxication and her interactions with Gischel on the night of the incident. (Doc. 1-12.)
UC conducted an internal investigation concerning the relationship between Detective Richey and Schoewe. (Doc. 1-45 at PageID 641-50.) Schoewe posted on social media a picture of her wearing a police hat and vest with a caption that included the saying "my detective loves me." (Id. at PageID 641.) Schoewe's friends reported reading text messages in which Detective Richey stated that he loved Schoewe and *968indicated he had given her a massage. (Id. at PageID 642-43.) Detective Richey would not allow UC to inspect the information on his mobile phone. (Id. at PageID 646.) Detective Richey denied giving Schoewe a back massage and denied that he had intended to communicate that he meant his statement "as a relationship I love you." He admitted to giving her a pendant to wear to comfort her during her grand jury testimony. (Id. ) Schoewe also denied any romantic relationship with Detective Richey. (Id. at PageID 644.) UC concluded in late October 2015 that it did not have evidence to "support or disprove" the allegation of a romantic relationship. (Id. at PageID 650.) However, it did transfer Detective Richey from special investigations to criminal investigations. (Id. )
Gischel alleges that the alleged relationship between Detective Richey and Schoewe became a factor in the criminal proceedings against him arising from the alleged sexual assault. (Goldberg Aff., Doc. 1-40 at PageID 594-95.) Gischel's criminal attorney procured a court order to obtain a forensic investigation of Detective Richey's phone to extract the texts between him and Schoewe, but Detective Richey had deleted all of his texts. (Id. ) The criminal attorney then procured a court order for a forensic investigation of Schoewe's phone. (Id. ) Gischel's expert determined that the phone was water damaged, but that text messages could be extracted if Schoewe produced the passcode. When Schoewe refused to produce the passcode, the court dismissed the criminal indictment against Gischel. (Id. )
E. UC's Alleged Bias Against Males in Title IX Investigations
Gischel dedicates more than twenty pages of the First Amended Complaint to alleging factors, both external and internal, which created a culture of animus against male students at UC. (Doc. 10 at PageID 729-59.) These allegations will be only briefly summarized because, as will be explained in the Analysis below, the Sixth Circuit has directly addressed many of these factors, or substantially similar factors, in earlier cases.
The OCR issued the now well-known "Dear Colleague Letter" on April 4, 2011 instructing universities nationwide how to investigate and resolve sexual misconduct complaints. Universities were encouraged to adopt a preponderance of the evidence standard for disciplinary cases and to minimize the burden on the complainant. (Dear Colleague Letter at 11, 15-16.)
Gischel asserts that the pressure on UC increased when Schoewe filed a complaint with the OCR, and the OCR informed UC on or about February 9, 2016 that it had launched the Title IX investigation of the University.
*969complaint against UC is noted in the OUJA file on the Schoewe/Gischel matter. (Doc. 1-9 at PageID 278.)
Gischel points out that the OCR's recommendations for handling sexual misconduct allegations have been criticized in law review articles, by the American Association of University Professors, and by the American College of Trial Attorneys.
Gischel also cites UC's participation and promotion of the "It's On Us" campaign which he describes as portraying male students as sexual predators. He faults UC's repeated promotion of a statistic stating that 20% to 25% of female college students are assaulted by male students, because he asserts that other organizations offer statistics that less than 1% of female students are assaulted. He also faults ARC training materials that, in the sexual misconduct section, refer to women as being the victims of rape, refer to "boyfriends" and not to "girlfriends" as perpetrators of date rape, and point out misconceptions that men have about their "right" to sex. (Doc. 1-33 at PageID 535-40.) However, the Court notes that the training materials use gender neutral language in most subsections and specifically note that men also are victims of rape. (Id. )
Finally, he states that Title IX Coordinator Shaffer, who investigated Schoewe's complaint against Gischel, is associated with two organizations, the Association of Title IX Administrators and the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management, whom he describes as "promoting gender bias at universities by equating victim/complainants in sexual misconduct proceedings as being females who must receive preferential treatment." (Doc. 10 at PageID 752.)
F. Procedural History of this Case
On July 13, 2017, Gischel initiated this civil action by filing a Complaint against UC, Daniel Cummins, William Richey, Jyl Shaffer, Brice Mickey, Carol Tonge Mack, Arnett Glassco, and Rachel J. Smith. (Doc. 1.) Defendants moved to dismiss the Complaint on September 13, 2017. (Doc. 9.) In lieu of responding to the dismissal motion, Gischel filed the First Amended Complaint against the same defendants. (Doc. 10.) He asserts the following claims for relief in the First Amended Complaint:
Count 1: Violation of Title IX-Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment and/or Discrimination (against UC only);
Count 2: Violation of Title IX-Deliberate Indifference (against UC only);
Count 3: Violation of Title IX-Erroneous Outcome (against UC only);
Count 4: Violations of Procedural and Substantive Due Process Pursuant to42 U.S.C. § 1983 (against the Individual Defendants in their official capacities for injunctive relief and in their personal capacities for money damages);
Count 5: Violation of the Equal Protection Clause Pursuant to42 U.S.C. § 1983 (against the Individual Defendants in their official capacities for injunctive relief and in their personal capacities for money damages);
Count 6: Malicious Prosecution in Violation of the Fourth Amendment Pursuant to42 U.S.C. § 1983 (against Detective Richey in his official capacity for injunctive relief and in his personal capacity for money damages).
Count 7: Declaratory Judgment-Violation of Due Process Provisions of the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions (against UC and the Individual Defendants)
(Id. at PageID 779-92.)
On October 18, 2017, Defendants moved to dismiss the First Amended Complaint in its entirety. (Doc. 11.) Gischel opposes dismissal of the First Amended Complaint. (Doc. 12.) This matter is fully briefed and ripe for adjudication.
*970II. STANDARDS FOR MOTIONS TO DISMISS
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) allows a party to move to dismiss a complaint for "failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). To withstand a motion to dismiss, a complaint must comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a), which requires "a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." Ashcroft v. Iqbal ,
A complaint must include sufficient facts to state a claim that is plausible on its face and not speculative. Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ,
III. ANALYSIS
A. Title IX Claims Against UC
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 provides generally that "[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
1. Sexual Harassment/Deliberate Indifference
The hostile environment sexual harassment and deliberate indifference claims overlap. In 2001, the Sixth Circuit stated that a Title IX claim for hostile environment could go forward when a plaintiff established a prima facie case that (1) she was subjected to a sexually hostile environment; (2) she provided actual notice to an official with authority to take corrective action; and (3) the institution's response to the harassment amounted to deliberate indifference. Klemencic v. Ohio State Univ. ,
*971Mallory v. Ohio Univ. ,
Asssuming, arguendo, that the Sixth Circuit would recognize a deliberate indifference claim, Gischel does not identify specific facts showing that he was subjected to sexual harassment or a hostile environment at UC. He has not stated allegations that he was subjected to "discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, [or] insult" because of his gender. Harris v. Forklift Syss. ,
Gischel does not state plausible sexual harassment allegations. Gischel alleges that he told Detective Richey that Schoewe grabbed his penis on the night of the incident, but that UC took no steps to discipline Schoewe as a result. However, he does allege either that the Schoewe's touching was unwelcome or that he reported the touching as unwelcome to UC. The Doe v. Miami University case is instructive. The plaintiff in that case alleged that he had asserted in the university's sexual misconduct proceedings against him that the female complainant had initiated sexual contact with him one time when he was incapacitated.
2. Selective Enforcement Discrimination
The Sixth Circuit has applied the selective enforcement theory of Title IX set forth in *972Yusuf v. Vassar College ,
Gischel argues that he was disciplined for alleged sexual assault, but Schoewe was not disciplined for touching his penis, because of gender bias. This allegation is insufficient for two reasons. First, as stated above, Gischel did not complain to UC that Schoewe's touching him was unwelcome at any time before this litigation. Second, the accuser cannot be the similarly-situated individual to whom the accused student plaintiff is compared. See Doe v. Ohio State Univ. ,
3. Erroneous Outcome
In a typical erroneous outcome case, the plaintiff "attack[s the] university disciplinary proceeding on grounds of gender bias" by arguing that the plaintiff "was innocent and wrongly found to have committed an offense." Yusuf ,
Gischel has alleged facts that considered together are sufficient to cast articulable doubt on the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.
Second, Gischel was denied the opportunity to investigate the extent of Detective Richey's bias, if any, in favor of Schoewe. Detective Richey was in a position to influence the case presented against Gischel by UC at the ARC hearing. Detective Richey conducted the only UC interrogation of Gischel about the incident, he obtained statements from other key witnesses, and he counseled Schoewe during the investigation. However, he did not appear at the ARC hearing. He also refused to allow a forensic examination of his mobile phone to examine his communications with Schoewe despite credible evidence suggesting they might have had a romantic relationship. Finally, the ARC panel refused to ask Schoewe questions about her relationship with Detective Richey. In fact, the state court dismissed criminal charges against Gischel because Richey had deleted his text messages and Schoewe refused to provide the passcode to her water-damaged phone. The Court finds that Gischel has alleged sufficient facts at the pleading stage to cast articulable doubt upon the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.
Regarding the causal connection prong, the allegations of causation necessary to state a Title IX claim can be similar to those sufficient to state a Title VII discrimination claim, such as "statements by members of the disciplinary tribunal, statements by pertinent university officials, or patterns of decision-making that also tend to show the influence of gender." Yusuf ,
Courts in the Sixth Circuit repeatedly have found that generalized allegations of hostility towards male students accused of sexual assault at universities arising from the OCR's now-rescinded Dear Colleague Letter and from Title IX advocacy groups are not sufficient to establish the required causal connection. To begin, a conclusory allegation that the Dear Colleague Letter induced a university to discriminate against male students so as avoid the loss of federal funds is not sufficient evidence to state a plausible claim of gender bias. See Cummins ,
*974Doe v. Univ. of Cincinnati ,
Also, courts have held that advocacy and bias in favor of the perceived victims of sexual assault is not evidence of gender bias because both men and women can be sexually assaulted. Cummins ,
However, Gischel has made two allegations that give rise to a plausible inference of gender bias in the circumstances of this case. First, Gischel has pleaded that UC faced pressure not only from the OCR's Dear Colleague Letter, but by the fact the OCR opened a Title IX investigation into whether UC "discriminated against students based on sex" by failing to equitably respond to reports of sexual violence. (Doc. 1-5 at PageID 180.) There is an email in the OUJA file regarding the Schoewe/Gischel incident noting that the Gischel case is "part of" the OCR investigation. The ARC hearing was held in March 2016 after UC received written notice about the OCR investigation in February 2016. The Sixth Circuit has recognized that being investigated by the federal government for potential Title IX violations is a relevant allegation suggesting that the university might be induced to discriminate against males in disciplinary hearings for alleged sexual assault. Cummins ,
Second, Gischel has alleged facts suggesting gender bias on the part of at least Detective Richey who actively participated in the investigation and had the ability to influence the case presented against Gischel at the disciplinary proceeding. See Doe v. Case W. Reserve Univ. , No. 1:17cv414,
The existence of the pending OCR investigation of UC for Title IX violations, and the potential gender-based animus Detective Richey had against Gischel, another male, arising from his alleged romantic interest in Schoewe, a female, are sufficient at the dismissal stage to support a Title IX claim. The Court will not dismiss the Title IX erroneous outcome claim against UC.
B. Section 1983 Claims against the Individual Defendants
Gischel asserts that the Individual Defendants violated his due process rights and his right to equal protection, and he seeks relief pursuant to
The doctrine of qualified immunity provides "that government officials performing discretionary functions generally are shielded from liability for civil damages [on personal capacity claims] insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald ,
1. Substantive Due Process and Equal Protection Violations
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment likewise provides that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
A student's claim for a violation of a substantive due process right to continued education at a public university does not exist if the student's equal protection rights were not violated. See Martinson v. Regents of Univ. of Mich. ,
*976These allegations are legally insufficient. The Court already has determined that Schoewe cannot be considered to be similarly-situated to Gischel based on the facts alleged. Gischel has not alleged that Schoewe's action in grabbing his penis was unwelcome or that he ever complained about Schoewe's conduct. Instead, Gischel told Detective Richey that Schoewe grabbed his penis as part of his explanation as to why he believed that Schoewe had consented to have intercourse with him. Additionally, Gischel failed to allege facts to support the conclusory allegation that UC treated other female students accused of sexual assault better than it treated him. He has not alleged facts concerning any alleged assaults committed by female students nor described the way in which such female students were treated by UC. As such, Gischel has failed to state a claim for violations of his substantive due process or equal protection rights upon which relief can be granted. It follows that Individual Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on these claims to the extent they are sued in their individual capacities. The Court will dismiss these claims.
2. Procedural Due Process Violations
Gischel alleges in this claim that the Individual Defendants violated his procedural due process rights by denying him fair and impartial investigators and adjudicators and by restricting his ability to cross-examine witnesses. The procedures followed by UC for charges of non-academic misconduct are set forth in the Student Code of Conduct attached to the Complaint. (Doc. 1-2 at PageID 90-102.) The procedures generally have been approved in other cases. See , e.g. , Cummins ,
"Procedural due process imposes constraints on governmental decisions which deprive individuals of 'liberty' or 'property' interests within the meaning of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendment." Mathews v. Eldridge ,
(1) the nature of the private interest affected by the deprivation; (2) the risk of an erroneous deprivation in the current procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or alternative procedures; and (3) the governmental interest involved, including the burden that additional procedures would entail.
Cummins ,
"State universities must afford students minimum due process protections before issuing significant disciplinary decisions." Doe v. Univ. of Cincinnati ,
*977In the school-disciplinary context, an accused student must at least receive the following pre-expulsion: (1) notice of the charges; (2) an explanation of the evidence against him; and (3) an opportunity to present his side of the story before an unbiased decisionmaker. We have recognized, however, that "disciplinary hearings against students ... are not criminal trials, and therefore need not take on many of those formalities." Although a university student must be afforded a meaningful opportunity to present his side, a full-scale adversarial proceeding is not required. The focus, rather, should be on whether the student had an opportunity to "respond, explain, and defend," and not on whether the hearing mirrored a criminal trial.
Cummins ,
Students accused of sexual offenses have a "compelling" interest in the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.
An adjudicatory panel must be impartial and unbiased, but school adjudicatory panels are entitled to a presumption of impartiality absent a showing based on evidence of actual bias.
Despite the fact that UC's procedures have been found to comply with due process generally, Gischel makes specific allegations of fact that he was denied due process in ways that merit discussion here. First, Gischel contends that he was denied procedural due process because the complaint against him was not adjudicated in a timely manner. UC's Title IX Policies and Procedures, dated December 1, 2016, states that sex discrimination complaints generally are to be resolved within sixty days. (Doc. 1-2 at PageID 113.) Setting aside the fact that this policy is dated several months after Gischel was dismissed from UC, the Court notes that UC did not conduct the ARC hearing on the complaint against Gischel until six months after he was given notice of the complaint. However, the Sixth Circuit has stated that a claim that a university failed to provide due process solely because it violated an internal written policy "clearly lacks merit" because the Constitution and case law interpreting it control what process is due. Cummins ,
Additionally, UC did not inform Gischel that he was the subject of a Title IX complaint until after he had been interrogated by Detective Richey. UC's Student Code of Conduct calls for giving a student accused of harassment or discrimination notice of the complaint concurrent to that provided to the complainant. (Doc. 1-2 at PageID 90-91.) He asserts that this violation of policy constituted a denial of due process because he would have exercised his right to have an advisor present when he was interrogated by Detective Richey *978on September 16, 2015.
Perhaps more significantly, Gischel alleges that the potential negative impact was exacerbated by the limited right of cross-examination afforded to him at the ARC hearing. The Sixth Circuit has recognized at least a limited right to cross-examine adverse witnesses "in the most serious of cases." Doe v. Univ. of Cincinnati ,
The Sixth Circuit has approved of "circumscribed form of cross-examination" used by UC where the accused student submits written questions to the ARC panel to ask the accuser at a hearing, but the panel can determine which questions are relevant and whether they will be posed to the witness. Doe v. Univ. of Cincinnati ,
Gischel presents plausible allegations that his ability to present a meaningful defense was thwarted in this case. First, as set forth in the Erroneous Outcome subsection above, Gischel alleges that he was not permitted to conduct a meaningful cross-examination of Schoewe because the ARC panel refused to ask Schoewe his questions about her level of intoxication. Gischel alleges facts at least suggesting that Schoewe gave inconsistent or inaccurate statements about how much she drank, the last events she remembered, and whether she was drugged. Second, and also as set forth above, Gischel alleges that Detective Richey, who conducted the only interview of Gischel and obtained many of the witness statements used to help establish Schoewe's level of intoxication, was biased in favor of Schoewe because he had romantic feelings towards her.
However, as to the claims against the Individual Defendants in their personal capacities, Gischel cannot overcome the asserted defense of qualified immunity. The law regarding what process is due in the student disciplinary context is evolving. The Sixth Circuit has not clearly defined the contours of the circumscribed cross-examination to be afforded to an accused during a university disciplinary proceeding. Gischel has not identified Supreme Court or Sixth Circuit precedent holding that Gischel had an absolute right to have all of his questions posed directly to Schoewe at the hearing. Additionally, although there is a clearly established right to have an impartial decisionmaker, see Cummins ,
C. Malicious Prosecution
Finally, Gischel asserts that Detective Richey is liable for malicious prosecution in violation of the Fourth Amendment. "[I]ndividuals have a clearly established Fourth Amendment right to be free from malicious prosecution by a defendant who has 'made, influenced, or participated in the decision to prosecute the plaintiff' by, for example, 'knowingly or recklessly' making false statements that are material to the prosecution either in reports or in affidavits filed to secure warrants." King v. Harwood ,
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint (Doc. 11) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART . The following claims are dismissed: (a) the Title IX claims for deliberate indifference/sexual harassment and for selective enforcement against Defendant UC; (b) the equal protection and substantive due process claims against the Individual Defendants in their official and personal capacities; and (c) the procedural due process claim against the Individual Defendants in their personal capacities. The following claims will proceed: (a) the Title IX claim for erroneous outcome claim against Defendant UC; (b) the procedural due process claim against the Individual Defendants in their official capacities; and (c) the malicious prosecution claim against Detective Richey in his official and personal capacities.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
This Amended Order is issued to correct typographical errors in the original Order.
The Exhibits attached to the Complaint (Doc. 1) and the Amended Complaint (Doc. 10) appear to be identical. The Court will cite the Complaint exhibits because the CM/ECF PageID numbers are illegible on the Amended Complaint exhibits.
The Dear Colleague Letter was obtained at https://www2.ed.gov/print/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.html on November 29, 2017. The Department of Education withdrew the Dear Colleague Letter on September 22, 2017.
In this regard, Schoewe was interviewed by the Cincinnati Enquirer about the incident and UC's investigation of it for a lengthy article published on January 18, 2017. (Doc. 1-6 at PageID 187-95.)
The Court is aware of only one case in the Sixth Circuit where the court did not require a deliberate indifference claim to arise from an allegation of sexual harassment. In Wells v. Xavier University ,
Gischel alleges in the First Amended Complaint that UC failed to respond to a public records request for documents that would show that UC engaged in an unlawful pattern of gender-biased decision making. (Doc. 10 at PageID 782.) Gischel does not provide any detail as to the particulars of the records request. The Court will allow Gischel to file a Second Amended Complaint if he obtains discovery suggesting that UC is biased in favor of females, regardless of whether they are the complainants or the accused students, over males.
This conclusion should not be read to infer that the Court has made any determination about whether Schoewe, in fact, was intoxicated or incapacitated on the night of the incident and whether she was sexually assaulted by Gischel. Those matters are not before the Court.
It is true that Detective Richey did inform Gischel of his Miranda rights, including the right to an attorney, before the interrogation began. However, it is not apparent based on the facts alleged or from the interrogation transcript that Gischel knew he was the target of a criminal or disciplinary investigation when the interrogation began.
In Doe v. University of Cincinnati, the accuser did not appear at the disciplinary hearing and could not be cross-examined. Id. at 398, 402. The adjudicatory panel had to rely on her written statement because there was no corroborating evidence in the case and the panel had to make a credibility determination, absent a cross-examination, to determine whether the assault occurred. Id. The Sixth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction enjoining the accused student's suspension because the accused student was denied a meaningful opportunity to cross-examine his accuser. However, the Sixth Circuit stated that cross-examination "may be unnecessary where the University's case does not rely on testimonial evidence from the complainant." Id. at 405.
Gischel need not allege that Detective Richey's bias in favor of Schoewe was gender-based to establish a procedural due process violation claim.
The Court concludes that Gischel has sufficiently stated a procedural due process claim to survive the dismissal motion for the reasons stated above, but the Court does not intend by its analysis to limit the scope of Gischel's procedural due process claim going forward. Conversely, the Court does not intend to suggest that it has reached even a preliminary decision as to the merits of Gischel's claim.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tyler GISCHEL v. UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published