Relevant files for Doe v. Trustees of Dartmouth College:

• Complaint
• Memorandum supporting the motion for injunctive relief
• More info/files available in our Title IX Lawsuits Database

This recently filed case follows a strong tradition of Title IX accusations following a night of heavy drinking. It involves two homosexual male medical students – John Doe and Sam Smith – who jointly rented a two-bedroom apartment close to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. Both allege that on July 12, 2020, the other student performed oral sex upon them while they were asleep after a night of drinking “six or seven beers” followed by bourbon cocktails.

Plaintiff John Doe was set to graduate in less than a year at the time of the investigation. He was expelled from at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College – deep in debt – after being found responsible for nonconsensual sexual contact.

The complaint argues there were two key deficiencies in Dartmouth’s investigation, which was performed by an out-of-state “prestigious” law firm:

• The investigator did not appropriately apply the preponderance standard by “failing to consider evidence provided by Smith that he was sober and awake when the alleged incident occurred while Doe was admittedly impaired by alcohol to the point of incapacitation.” Doe was found to have “subjectively” experienced a “fragmentary blackout,” yet he was “still responsible for initiating” the act.
• The “Investigator failed to find that Doe performed oral sexual intercourse while Smith was asleep, as alleged in the Notice, but still found him responsible for other alleged sexual contact not included in the Notice.” The complaint further states, “the Hearing Panel asked the Investigator where in the Final Report is there a finding that oral intercourse took place, ignoring whether or not Smith was asleep.”

The complaint states:

The Investigator, an experienced attorney in a prestigious law firm, clearly understood the Notice as issued required a finding that sexual contact took place while Smith was asleep to support a finding of responsible. However, the Investigator did not find that the oral sexual intercourse alleged in the Notice occurred while Smith was asleep. Rather, he found that some undefined “sexual contact”, but not oral intercourse, occurred and then, when Smith woke up, Doe was not touching him.

The complaint goes further to quote the Investigator as quoting Smith that Doe did perform oral sex on Smith almost immediately after Smith awoke.

Doe brings Title IX and breach of contract claims. He also seeks a preliminary injunction, the evidentiary hearing for which is scheduled for March 29^th.

Doe’s attorney is William E. Christie of Shaheen & Gordon in Concord, NH. Christie has represented accused students in at least three other lawsuits against Dartmouth from 2018 to the present. He has been rather successful thus far; two have resulted in favorable decisions on motions to dismiss and all three have settled.

The present case is being heard by Judge Landya B. McCafferty, an Obama nominee who heard an earlier case litigated by Christie.

All four lawsuits are found in our Title IX Lawsuits Database.