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Lawsuit against Saint Leo resolved

A student, who has since left the school, reported that a university employee raped her in a dorm room.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published November 3, 2005

ST. LEO - A 2003 lawsuit filed against Saint Leo University by a former student who alleged she was drugged and raped in her dorm by a university employee was recently settled.

"It's been resolved," said Tampa lawyer Andrew Brown, who represented the university.

But the terms of the settlement, including any monetary numbers, was not disclosed by the school's attorney or in court documents.

Both sides signed a joint motion to dismiss the lawsuit in September, an agreement that called for each side to "bear its own costs." Circuit Judge Wayne Cobb signed off on the agreement.

Saint Leo University officials did not return repeated calls for comment this week. The student's attorney, Elaine Seymour of Tampa, also did not return calls for comment.

The alleged incident occurred in December 2002, according to the lawsuit.

The name of the plaintiff, a Connecticut woman, is being withheld by the St. Petersburg Times because of the nature of the allegation. The alleged attacker was named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit. His name is also being withheld by the Times because he was never criminally prosecuted.

"There was an investigation," said Pasco Sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin, "but no arrest."

The lawsuit sought more than $15,000 in damages, qualifying it for circuit court. According to the lawsuit and a sheriff's report, the university employee - who had a history of violent behavior as a student before his employment there - slipped something into the woman's drink at a bar, which made her sick and caused her to lose consciousness.

The student told deputies she "had a lot to drink," that night, then awoke in her dorm room without remembering how she arrived. She contacted some friends via computer, she said, then apparently passed out again. When she awoke next, she found her alleged attacker on top of her. According to the lawsuit, the man "intentionally and maliciously touched," the student and "without her consent raped her."

As a result, the lawsuit said, the student suffered "severe emotional distress, humiliation and physical injuries." She has since suffered "severe headaches, nausea and anxiety attacks," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also accused the university of negligence in both its hiring policies and security practices.

According to the lawsuit, the accused "had a history of violent behavior and drug use on the campus of Saint Leo University while he was a student there, which had previously resulted in injury to another student at the university."

The university was aware of this, the lawsuit said, and "knew or should have known" about his history of drug use.

That employee, a Saint Leo graduate, no longer works at the university, Brown said. After the incident was reported, the sheriff's report said, a university official asked deputies to order the man off campus. The student who sued also no longer attends the school.

The school's attorney pointed out that the settlement means the allegations were neither proved true nor false in a courtroom.

"This is a resolution in that there has been no finding by a court one way or another on that," Brown said.

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 01:06:17]