The University of Oregon asked a federal judge to dismiss the $7.5 million lawsuit that former basketball player Brandon Austin filed against the university in October 2015, according to the Register Guard.
In spring of 2014, teammates Brandon Austin, Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson were accused of sexual assault against a UO female student. Charges were not filed against the other two players.
Austin sued, claiming personal and professional harm, emotional distress as well as loss of future income by lessening his chance of playing in the National Basketball Association. He seeks $6 million to compensate for possible loss of income and $1.5 million in non-economic damages.
However, the university’s response to the lawsuit says that at the time of his suspension, Austin had no business relationship with any NBA team.
On Monday, university officials released emails and other supporting documents of Austin signing a “special choice of resolution.”
This means that he surrendered the right to face his accuser and could not appeal rulings from Director of Student Conduct and Community Standards, Sandy Weintraub.
Lawsuits related to this case are not foreign to the UO. The student alleging rape sued the university last year saying she was put in harm’s way because the they allowed Austin to enroll during a period in which he faced a sexual assault allegation at his former college in Rhode Island. She settled the suit for $800,000 and four years of room, board and tuition at the UO.
The university could face its third lawsuit related to the incident when in November two former university counseling center employees filed a lawsuit saying they were shunned, criticized and threatened with dismissal from the UO after they blew the whistle on supervisors who had seized the female student’s therapy records.