Prof Sues Law School, Wins Big, 2nd Time

WASHINGTON - Feb. 14, 2024 - PRLog -- For at least the second time since the pandemic panicked universities, a tenured professor whose rights were violated has successfully sued his law school and won big, achieving what has been called a "landmark settlement," reports public interest law professor John Banzhaf.
[Tenured] Law Professor Paul Campos Prevailed In His Fight With His Employer (https://abovethelaw.com/2024/02/it-turns-out-law-school-leaving-a-paper-trail-of-retaliation-was-a-poor-litigation-strategy/)
How I Won My Lawsuit Against the University of Colorado (https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/02/how-i-won-my-lawsuit-against-the-university-of-colorado)

Professor Paul Campos sued his own law school, at the University of Colorado, and forced it to reverse its prior retaliatory employment decision, as well as to pay an undisclosed amount including Campos' own attorney fees, as well as being forced to pay for outside legal counsel to defend the law school's dean who was also sued.

A key to his remarkable and possibly precedent setting victory appears to have been the incompetence of the dean and other lawyers at the law school who made a rookie mistake; one which would have earned one of his own law students a failing grade, says Professor Banzhaf, who also blamed his law school's incompetence as the cause of his own difficulties.

As a leading legal blog explained, "No one necessarily expects the legal academy to be experts in the practicalities."

In the earlier but similar situation, Banzhaf had both his salary and his ability to teach suddenly, unexpectedly, and without warning or explanation, terminated by his George Washington University Law School [GWU] where he was also a faculty member supposedly protected by tenure.  At the time it was reported this way:

"The American Association of University Professors [AAUP] has slammed GWU for violating tenure during the pandemic by suspending without pay a tenured law professor without any 'cause' (as required by its faculty code), and without any hearing to determine if there was any valid cause.  Public interest law professor John Banzhaf says that he may be a canary in a coal mine, and a harbinger of what GWU and other universities might try to do in order to slash costs or to rid themselves of outspoken professors."

Indeed, the Campos case suggests that Banzhaf was in fact a canary in a coal mine and a harbinger of what other universities would try to do, even when the outspoken victims were law professors who supposedly had earned the many protections of tenure.

In light of these and other similar remarkable victories, more professors who have had their free speech rights violated, despite the many protections they thought they possessed because of their tenure, may be encouraged to sue, and attorneys may likewise be more willing to take on such cases in light of Banzhaf's and Campos' remarkable victories.
http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com   @profbanzhaf