Goodman v. President and Trustees of Bowdoin Coll.

• Decision Date: 16 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV 00-156-P-C.,CIV 00-156-P-C.
• Citation: 135 F.Supp.2d 40
• Parties: George C.W. GOODMAN, Plaintiff, v. THE PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE; Robert H. Edwards, President, Bowdoin College; Craig W. Bradley, Dean of Students, Bowdoin College; Mya Mangawang, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Bowdoin College; Robert Graves, Director of Residential Life, Bowdoin College; Karen Tilbor, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Bowdoin College, Defendants
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maine

135 F.Supp.2d 40

George C.W. GOODMAN, Plaintiff, v. THE PRESIDENT AND TRUSTEES OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE; Robert H. Edwards, President, Bowdoin College; Craig W. Bradley, Dean of Students, Bowdoin College; Mya Mangawang, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Bowdoin College; Robert Graves, Director of Residential Life, Bowdoin College; Karen Tilbor, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Bowdoin College, Defendants

No. CIV 00-156-P-C.

United States District Court, D. Maine.

March 16, 2001.

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Mark G. Furey, Thompson, Bull, Furey, Bass & Maccoll, LLC, P.A., Portland, ME, John J.E. Markham, II, Markham & Read, Boston, MA, for Plaintiff.

James T. Kilbreth, Verrill & Dana, Portland, ME, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION AND ORDER

GENE CARTER, District Judge.

This case involves allegations of violations of federal civil rights laws, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981 and 2000d, by Defendants The President and Trustees of Bowdoin College (hereinafter Defendant "Bowdoin College") (Counts I and II), breach of contract claims against Defendant Bowdoin College (Counts III and IV), and tortious interference with contract claims against Defendants Robert H. Edwards, President of Bowdoin College, Craig W. Bradley, Dean of Students at Bowdoin College, Mya Mangawang, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College, Robert Graves, Director of Residential Life at Bowdoin College, and Karen Tilbor, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College, (Counts V and VI) for disciplinary actions taken against Plaintiff George C.W. Goodman in connection with an altercation between Goodman and another student that occurred on March 19, 1999. Now before the Court is Defendants' Motion to Dismiss with Incorporated Memorandum of Law (Docket No. 4) (hereinafter "Motion to Dismiss"). Defendants move to dismiss all counts of Plaintiff's Complaint. For the reasons that follow, the Court will grant Defendants' motion with respect to Counts III and V, and deny Defendants' motion with respect to Counts I, II, IV, and VI.

BACKGROUND

Because the Court is considering a motion to dismiss, it "must accept as true all the factual allegations in the complaint." Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit, 507 U.S. 163, 164, 113 S.Ct. 1160, 1161, 122 L.Ed.2d 517 (1993). Plaintiff's Amended Complaint (Docket No. 2) alleges the following facts.

Plaintiff, who is "Caucasian and a citizen of the United States," was a student at Bowdoin College until the Spring of 1999. Amended Complaint ¶ 1. On March 19, 1999, Plaintiff and another student at Bowdoin College, Nam Soo Lee, who is "Asian and a citizen of Korea," engaged in a physical and verbal altercation, which resulted in a bloody and broken nose to Lee and damage to the tendons on Plaintiff's right hand. Id. ¶¶ 1, 11, 19, 23. This altercation began when Plaintiff threw a snowball at a college van that Lee was driving and the snowball hit the van. See id. ¶ 19. After the snowball hit the van, Lee backed the van up to Plaintiff, yelled at Plaintiff, and got out of the van. See id. ¶¶ 20-21. Following an exchange of words between Plaintiff and Lee, in which Plaintiff stated to Lee that the snowball throwing had been a joke, and "lobb[ed] another snowball at the ... van to show that there had been no harm meant," Plaintiff began to walk away from Lee and suggested that Lee return to the van. Id. ¶ 21. Although Lee did return to the van, instead of driving away, he backed the van towards Plaintiff. Eventually, Lee got out of the van and "caught up to Goodman from behind, then grabbed Goodman from behind, spun him around with such force that Goodman's jacket ripped from the neck opening to the waist, and then hit Mr. Goodman in the face." Id. ¶¶ 22-23. Plaintiff hit Lee back with the intention of defending himself, and "[a] very brief fight ensued," resulting in the alleged injuries. Id. ¶ 23.

The fight ended after Plaintiff pushed Lee away. See id. Plaintiff then returned to his residence and telephoned Bowdoin's campus security officers to report the incident. See id. ¶ 24. Lee radioed campus security and was taken to Parkview Hospital to have his injury examined. See id. ¶ 25. At Parkview, Lee stated in front of two Bowdoin Police Department officers and one Bowdoin College security officer that he was at fault for the events of the evening and that his angry reaction towards Plaintiff had resulted not merely from being hit with the snowball, but also from other affronts that he had experienced that week, including students behaving discourteously in the van and the theft of his coat. See id. Later that same evening, Lee admitted his fault for the incident to two of his friends. See id.

The school initiated disciplinary proceedings for the stated purpose of ascertaining "the truth as to what occurred" on the night of March 19, 1999. Id. ¶ 26. This process consisted of three phases: a Judicial Board ("J-Board") hearing; a review of that hearing by Defendant Bradley, Dean of Students; and an appeal to the Administrative Committee, chaired by Defendant Edwards, President of Bowdoin College. See id. ¶¶ 26-27. In attempting to prepare for the J-Board hearing, Plaintiff was denied access to certain medical records of Lee and the opportunity to interview a security guard who had assisted Defendant Mangawang, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, in her investigation of the incident. See id. ¶ 28.

The J-Board hearings took place on April 13, 1999. Id. ¶ 27. Acting as chair of the proceedings was a student who had previously stated to Plaintiff that she did not trust his word and expressed in writing that she would use this distrust against him if he ever appeared before the J-Board. See id. ¶ 28. Defendant Mangawang allowed this student to preside over the hearing, but removed from the J-Board a roommate of an eyewitness to the altercation whose testimony favored Plaintiff. See id. ¶ 28. During the J-Board hearings, Defendant Graves, Director of Residential Life, acted as the complainant against Plaintiff, and Defendant Tilbor, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, acted as the complainant against Lee. See id. ¶ 29. Plaintiff's hearing occurred first, and the testimony and evidence elicited at Plaintiff's hearing was adopted for the purpose of Lee's hearing. See id. ¶ 27. This evidence supported Plaintiff's version of the events of the night of March 19, including Plaintiff's allegation that Lee had initiated the physical confrontation by grabbing Plaintiff and hitting him in the face. See id. ¶ 33. Defendant Graves acted as a vigorous prosecutor at Plaintiff's hearing, while Defendant Tilbor exhibited comparatively passive conduct towards Lee. See id. ¶¶ 29-30. For example, the police report introduced by Goodman in support of his version of events was discredited in the proceedings, while the race-based explanations and excuses offered by Lee for his conduct towards Plaintiff on the night of March 19, and his subsequent statements concerning his fault for the incident, remained untested by Defendant Tilbor. See id. ¶¶ 29-30, 35-40, 42(ix). Lee also testified that he might have perceived Plaintiff's conduct as racist and offered this perception as a partial explanation for his conduct on that night. See id. ¶¶ 36-38. These explanations came in the form of responses to questions asked by Defendant Graves during his examination of Lee. See id. ¶ 38. The J-Board did not seek to exclude any of this testimony. See id. ¶ 41.

The J-Board determined that Plaintiff was entirely at fault for the incident and that Lee was not at fault, and it recommended the sanction of expulsion for Plaintiff. See id. ¶¶ 32, 34. Defendant Bradley reviewed the results of the hearing and adopted the J-Board's recommendation. See id. ¶¶ 27, 32, 42(xii). As part of his review of the recommendation, Defendant Bradley obtained medical records from Parkview Hospital and interviewed the doctor who had treated Lee on the night of March 19. See id. ¶ 42 (viii). The Administrative Committee, chaired by Defendant Edwards, affirmed this result on appeal. See id. ¶¶ 27, 32, 42(xii). In affirming the J-Board's result, the Administrative Committee explicitly relied on evidence that had not been presented at the J-Board hearing but that had been subsequently submitted by Defendants Edwards and Bradley, including affidavits and unsworn statements by individuals; Defendants Edwards and Bradley never submitted Plaintiff's written objection to the post-hearing use of these submissions. See id. ¶ (42)(x). Ultimately, while Goodman was expelled for the March 19 incident, Lee was "fully exonerated." Id. ¶ 1, 32.

Based on these facts, Plaintiff sets forth six claims. In Count I of the Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendant Bowdoin College, acting by and through Defendants Mangawang, Bradley, Graves, Tilbor, Edwards, and others, discriminated against Plaintiff in the enforcement of its Student Handbook and Academic Honor and Social Code, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Count II alleges that Defendant Bowdoin College, a recipient of federal funding, violated 42 U.S.C. § 2000d by discriminating against Plaintiff on the grounds of race and national origin through its expulsion of him from Bowdoin College and denial of the benefits of a Bowdoin education and degree. In Counts III and IV, Plaintiff alleges breach of contract against Defendant Bowdoin College on the grounds that the college breached the promises set forth in its Student Handbook to refrain from discrimination on account of race or national origin and to conduct fair and impartial judicial proceedings in which students would have the opportunity to present evidence and witnesses. In Counts V and VI, Plaintiff alleges tortious interference with contract against Defendants Edwards, Bradley, Mangawang, Graves, and Tilbor, claiming that by maliciously and fraudulently manipulating the J-Board proceedings, these...