The lawsuit filed by a former student against the university for its actions before and after a 2006 sexual assault case is set for trial at 11 a.m. on Monday.
The personal injury lawsuit filed by the plaintiff, who is identified by the initials K.S., against the university cites negligence on behalf of the university and its staff. The lawsuit names Chancellor Victor Boschini, Provost Nowell Donovan, head football coach Gary Patterson, former basketball coach Neil Dougherty, Dean of Admission Ray Brown, former Athletics Director Daniel Morrison, Director of Athletic Compliance Kyle Brennan, the then-Kelly Center Coordinator Gayle Boydston and Sexual Harassment Officer Susan Adams.
The plaintiff stated in her original petition that the defendants did not “exercise ordinary care in the hiring of competent faculty and staff” and the defendants “owed a duty to the students on campus to recruit and properly supervise all student athletes.”
According to the reply filed by the university in response to the plaintiff’s suit, the previous criminal history of the suspects was not indicative of potential sexual assault.
The university’s reply to the plaintiff’s claims stated that “She [plaintiff] seeks to argue claims of negligent admission and negligent discipline. These claims are not in this case nor are they viable claims under Texas law.”
In Boyd v. Texas Christian University, a 1999 case brought against the university after an altercation that involved student athletes with a fellow student, a trial court found the “university did not owe any legal duty to the student to supervise or control the athletes,” according to the university’s response.
According to the plaintiff’s lawsuit, various administrators attempted to cover up the alleged assault by informing her that it would be “”a lot easier for [her]’ if she just kept quiet.” The plaintiff also cited that the university did not take the necessary measures to prevent the assault, including “knowingly and/or negligently recruiting athletes with known histories of sexual misconduct and criminal misbehavior.”
The plaintiff said she was drugged and assaulted in Moncrief Hall in October 2006, resulting in a permanent sexually transmitted disease, according to the plaintiff’s original petition.
The suspects, Virgil Allen Taylor, Shannon Monroe Behling and Lorenzo Labell Jones, were arrested on sexual assault charges by Fort Worth police in 2006, but charges were dropped by the district attorney in 2008 citing insufficient evidence. Former TCU basketball players Behling and Taylor and former football player Jones were dismissed from the university following the assault, according to a previous Daily Skiff article.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was lured to Taylor’s dormitory on Oct. 13, 2006 to receive money owed to her. She said she was given a Gatorade laced with a drug that rendered her in states of semi-consciousness to unconsciousness for several hours, during which the plaintiff was forcibly raped by Taylor, Jones and Behling, according to the lawsuit. As a result, the plaintiff said that she was infected by the Herpes virus.
The plaintiff’s original petition stated the damages sought by the plaintiff including medical and tuition costs, the value of her scholarship that she was unable to maintain following the alleged assault and those sustained by physical and mental distress.
