Miltenberg: “Lawsuit by Student Accused of Sex Assault Seeks Class-Action Status Against Michigan State,” Detroit Free Press

A move to turn a lawsuit against Michigan State University by one student accused of sexual assault into a class action could overturn dozens of findings against students accused of sexual assault. It could also lead to widespread class actions against other public universities, both in Michigan and neighboring states. The suit, filed late last year and amended late last week, is the first in the nation to seek class-action status and could drastically change the landscape of lawsuits against universities. “Unfortunately, the misapplication of Title IX has reached new depths at Michigan State,” said Andrew Miltenberg, the lawyer who filed the suit for a student going by John Doe. “Michigan State, in trying to distract attention from its own misdeeds, is consistently and systemically using Title IX as a weapon of law against its accused students, with life-altering consequences for these young men and women.” … The federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Michigan and nearby states, ruled in 2018 that the University of Michigan erred in a sexual assault investigation when it did not offer a live hearing with direct questioning when cases involved he said/she said questions of credibility. That ruling left the door open for a class-action suit, said Miltenberg, of Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP. His firm has handled hundreds of cases for students accused of sexual assault around the country. “For a long time, people would ask why there wasn’t a class action,” Miltenberg told the Free Press. “There wasn’t a law on the books we could hold a class action on. Now there is.”

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