A Providence conductor and composer is suing Berklee College of Music and its board of trustees over his firing in April after a female student raised allegations that he took her out for drinks and made inappropriate sexual advances. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, Peyman Farzinpour accuses Berklee of exhibiting gender bias against him and undertaking a biased and flawed disciplinary process that deprived him of his rights to a fair proceeding. Farzinpour, who performs in the group ENSEMBLE / PARALLAX, alleges breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other claims. He is seeking unspecified damages and for a declaration that the school violated Title IX policies barring discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal money. “This is a case of scorned, unrequited love or attraction,” Farzinpour’s lawyer, Andrew T. Miltenberg, said. “He had a fantastic career ahead of him. He lost it in a second.”
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OUR TEAM
- Ira S. Nesenoff
- Andrew T. Miltenberg
- Stuart Bernstein
- Tara J. Davis
- Jeffrey S. Berkowitz
- Philip A. Byler
- Suzanne Dooley
- Regina M. Federico
- Kara L. Gorycki
- Adrienne Levy
- Nicholas Lewis
- Rebecca C. Nunberg
- Janine Peress
- Cindy Singh
- Susan E. Stark
- Marybeth Sydor
- Barbara H. Trapasso
- Gabrielle M. Vinci
- Amy J. Zamir
- Diana R. Warshow (Zborovsky)
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