Ex-UM players’ case is in judge’s hands

BANGOR – It’s now up to a federal judge whether two former University of Maine football players get their day in court.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock on Thursday heard arguments in U.S. District Court on motions in the lawsuit former students Paris Minor of New Jersey and Stefan Gomes of Massachusetts filed in 2003 against the University of Maine System, the UMS trustees, former UM President Peter Hoff, and other university officials.

The men have claimed that their rights were violated when they were suspended in September 2002 from the football team for allegedly sexually assaulting a female student at an off-campus apartment.

The lawsuit alleges that the university’s Student Conduct Code Committee denied Gomes and Minor their constitutional right to due process and conducted its investigation, hearing, and appeal in bad faith while finding them responsible for violations of the Student Conduct Code.

The two are seeking a jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.

Last summer, the university’s attorneys filed a motion for summary judgment and argued that the ex-football players’ case is not substantial enough to proceed to trial because the law and legal precedents are on the university’s side. Thursday’s hearing concerned that motion.

Several university officials observed the proceeding in the third-floor courtroom of the federal building in Bangor, but Gomes and Minor did not attend.

The judge meticulously went through each section of the university’s 42-page motion, volleying verbally with attorneys for both sides.

He vigorously questioned the ex-students’ attorney, Harry Richardson. The Portland attorney argued that his clients were denied crucial evidence in the case, including copies of Old Town Police Department reports about the alleged incident, and that the chairwoman of the hearing panel was not impartial because of her work with sexual assault advocacy groups.

Paul Chaiken, the university’s Bangor attorney, maintained that Gomes and Minor were afforded all required due process protections and were judged by an impartial tribunal. He also argued that they are not entitled to damages because they can’t point to any false statements made to them by university officials.

“I have to look at the fundamental fairness [of the students’ hearing],” Woodcock observed Thursday.

The judge’s written ruling is not expected to be issued for several months.