Carboni v. Meldrum

• Decision Date: 25 January 1996
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 95-539-R.
• Citation: 949 F.Supp. 427
• Parties: Deborah Ann CARBONI, Plaintiff, v. J. Blair MELDRUM, D.V.M., Ph.D., D. Phillip Sponenberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., Don Waldron, D.V.M., and Rene Armstrong, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia

949 F.Supp. 427

Deborah Ann CARBONI, Plaintiff, v. J. Blair MELDRUM, D.V.M., Ph.D., D. Phillip Sponenberg, D.V.M., Ph.D., Don Waldron, D.V.M., and Rene Armstrong, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 95-539-R.

United States District Court, W.D. Virginia, Roanoke Division.

January 25, 1996.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Marc L. Fleischaker, Barbara S. Wahl, Jeanine M. Worden, Nicole Walthour, Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn, Washington, DC, for plaintiff.

Kay Kurtz Heidbreder, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA, Jerry D. Cain, Commonwealth of Virginia Special Assistant Attorney General, Blacksburg, VA, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

TURK, District Judge.

This cause of action stems from the circumstances surrounding Deborah Ann Carboni's dismissal from the veterinary program at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI). Plaintiff contends that she was unconstitutionally strip searched in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and that she was denied due process under the Fourteenth Amendment as a result of actions occurring during her university Honor Board proceeding and Faculty Appeal. She also raises various violations of state law including common law battery, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with contract. Ms. Carboni sues the defendants in both their individual and official capacities, seeking damages and injunctive relief to gain readmission to the program. This court has subject matter jurisdiction over the federal question claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and 28 U.S.C. § 1331, and supplemental jurisdiction over the pendant state claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1367. There is no diversity of citizenship jurisdiction because all the parties were residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia during the relevant period.

The case currently comes before the court on the defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment. The defendants contend that the search of Ms. Carboni's person was reasonable under the circumstances and that she was justifiably dismissed because of her poor academic performance. The court finds that the defendants' actions with respect to the search fall within the scope of qualified immunity, and that the plaintiff received all the process she was due during the Honor Board and Faculty Appeal stages. Summary judgment will be granted for the defendants on the plaintiff's federal claims.

I.

After working on her Master's degree in veterinary neurotoxicology and neuropathology at VPI and securing Virginia residency, Deborah Ann Carboni began her course of study at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM). The defendants are all state officials and employees of VPI and VMRCVM. Dr. J. Blair Meldrum is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and also chairs the Faculty Review Board and the Academic Standards Committee. Dr. D. Phillip Sponenberg is a professor at VMRCVM and the faculty advisor to the school's student Honor Board. Dr. Don Waldron is a professor at VMRCVM and Rene Armstrong is the Admissions Coordinator and the administrative assistant to Dean Meldrum.

The facts necessary for the court to rule on the defendants' Motion are set forth here in a light most favorable to the plaintiff. After beginning her veterinary medicine studies in 1991, Ms. Carboni experienced academic difficulty and fell below the grade point average necessary to continue at VMRCVM. However, the Admissions and Standards Committee allowed her to continue in the program provided that she re-take her first year. The plaintiff also began seeing the university's counselor for help with her alleged "test anxiety." Carboni successfully completed her first year course work in the Spring of 1993 and went on to finish her second year course of study in the Spring of 1994.¹ However, Ms. Carboni again encountered problems with her academic performance during her third year studies (the fourth year she was in the program).

In December, 1994, Carboni received failing grades on two examinations in "core" courses. The veterinary program requires that all students pass every core course, and not doing so can subject a student to dismissal. According to VMRCVM's College Handbook, a student who receives a failing grade in a core course may be allowed to retake the examination at the discretion of the faculty. Ms. Carboni was indeed allowed to retake both examinations and passed.

During the final semester of her third year Ms. Carboni again failed a final examination in a core course, this time in her Urology class. Dr. Waldron agreed to allow her to take a re-test and she was scheduled to do so on April 13, 1995. On that date Ms. Carboni arrived to take the examination and went to pick it up from Ms. Dreama Webb, the secretary for the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences. Carboni however, neglected to leave behind all exam preparation material as a note on the door from Dr. Waldron directed. Plaintiff maintains that Ms. Webb was not in her office so she went to the ladies' room to study. Her menstrual period had begun and she was feeling ill. Allegedly Carboni remained in the bathroom for a while and then went back to Ms. Webb's office to get the exam and inadvertently left some of her notes on the bathroom floor in the process. Ms. Carboni obtained the exam and began it. She maintains that she then left the rest of the notes she had brought with her in a credenza drawer in the exam room.

Sometime after 2:00 p.m. the plaintiff alleges that she felt ill again and proceeded to the ladies' room, leaving a note on the conference room table to that effect. Ms. Carboni was in the bathroom for some time and Dr. Waldron became concerned. He sent Ms. Webb into the ladies' room to find out what was going on and Ms. Webb stated she saw someone in one of the stalls with notes arrayed around her on the floor.² Ms. Webb also stated that she heard the sound of "paper rustling" about the waist of Ms. Carboni when she left the bathroom. Webb reported what she saw and heard to Dr. Waldron who confronted the plaintiff and asked her if she had been cheating. Ms. Carboni denied the accusation and said that the only thing she had on her person was something of a "personal nature."

After the confrontation, Dr. Waldron reported the matter to Dean Meldrum and directed Ms. Webb to search the bathroom for notes. None were found at that time. Thinking that Ms. Carboni had hidden the notes on her person, Dean Meldrum and Dr. Waldron directed the plaintiff to go to the restroom with Ms. Webb and Defendant Rene Armstrong and submit to a body search. Carboni was directed to lift her shirt to expose her breast area and back, drop her pants to her knees to expose her waist area and to remove her boots. After she did so and after Ms. Armstrong conducted a "frisk" of Carboni's legs and chest, the plaintiff offered to remove more of her clothing, including her undergarments, but Ms. Armstrong told her that would not be necessary. The search did not turn up the notes or any evidence of cheating. However, when the plaintiff returned to the conference room she was met by Dr. Waldron and Dean Meldrum who had since found the notes which the plaintiff had left there. The notes in the sanitary napkin disposal were also recovered.

Feeling that they had uncovered sufficient evidence of Ms. Carboni's alleged cheating, the plaintiff was not allowed to finish the exam and the entire matter was referred to the student Honor Board for investigation. On April 17, 1995, Ms. Carboni received written notice of the accusations against her and on April 26, 1995, she was told that a hearing would take place and that she was not to discuss the matter with anyone.³ The hearing before the Honor Board was held on April 30, 1995.

Ms. Carboni claims that she was denied due process because of a whole series of occurrences taking place in connection with that hearing. First, she alleges that the date of the hearing itself, falling in the middle of an exam week, compromised her ability to properly prepare a defense. Carboni also claims that the admonition that she not speak with anyone about the matter was unnecessary and further compromised her ability to prepare her case. In addition, the plaintiff claims that the hearing was purposefully set on a date when Dean Meldrum was unavailable, rendering it impossible for her to confront her principal accuser, that the hearing was made public against her wishes, and that Dr. Sponenberg did not inform the student Honor Board that the proper standard of proof was beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by the Student Handbook.

Ms. Carboni was found guilty of cheating by the Honor Board and given a two block (six week) academic suspension. Plaintiff immediately advised the Board that she intended to appeal the decision to the Faculty Review Board, as permitted by VMRCVM's Honor Code. The plaintiff maintains that soon after the decision was announced she was told by her student counsel that he would not represent her at the appellate stage because Dr. Sponenberg had requested that he withdraw. As a result of this alleged withdrawal by her counsel, Ms. Carboni states that she was told her appeal would be postponed. During the time between the Honor Board proceeding and the appeal Ms. Carboni alleges that she entered into an agreement with Dean Meldrum that if she agreed to the faculty proposed postponement she would be allowed to take a second re-test of the Urology exam.

The appeal before the faculty board was finally set for May 12, 1995 in order to avoid conflict with the plaintiff's clinical schedule but was later postponed until May 31, 1995. In the meantime Ms. Carboni received a failing grade in Urology, a decision made at Dr. Waldron's discretion and not subject to any determination made by the student Honor Board. Dr. Waldron however, informed Ms....