Corporate Governance

Churchill Case: The Responses to Motions

By Charlene Hunter

Attorneys for CU and Churchill have filed responses to each other's motions, which we will summarize briefly:

Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law:

• Motion must be denied as quasi-judicial immunity only applies to individuals sued in their individual capacities and not governmental defendants. In the earlier procedure of this case, the parties agreed to exchange the University of Colorado as a corporate entity as defendants in place of the Regents individually and in their official capacities. In doing so, CU waived 11^th Amendment immunity, the only immunity which would have applied.
• Even if quasi-judicial immunity is applied, it only goes to the $1.00 damage award and not to the reinstatement sought by plaintiff.
• Even if quasi-judicial immunity applied to entities, it would not apply in this case as the quasi-judicial entity would need to be truly independent and immune from political pressures in order to qualify, which the Regents were not (as per testimony).

Brief in Opposition to Motion for Reinstatement:

• The jury's verdict precludes equitable relief since a) Churchill did not ask the Court to set aside the jury's verdict of only $1.00 in damages; and b) That even though the pleadings and other court documents did seek every measure of damages, the jury's award of only $1.00 in damages indicates that the jury found that there was no damage from the violation of his constitutional rights.
• If equitable relief is not precluded, then reinstatement is not the appropriate remedy because a) the litigation has irreparably damaged the relationship between the parties (citing in court and out of court statements by Churchill and Attorney Lane), and; b) reinstating Churchill will harm others in that Churchill will be in position to retaliate against faculty members who did not support him and will continue to make 'bogus claims' that damage Native American studies.
• If equitable relief is granted it should only be reasonable front pay because a) Churchill made little effort to mitigate his damage by getting another position; b) the average work life of public employees is 58 years, and Churchill is already 61; c) Churchill is already drawing PERA benefits of $68,409 annually.

Both responses are available in the Churchill section of the DU Corporate Governance site.

Full post as published by The Race to the Bottom on May 24, 2009 (boomark / email).