FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Indiana Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Students Represented by Stuart & Branigin LLP

Lafayette, Indiana – April 8, 2008 – The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of two former graduate students in an defamation suit filed by a former professor. The students were represented by Stuart & Branigin LLP partner, Karen R. Orr, who argued the case before the Supreme Court. The two former graduate students at Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne (IPFW) had filed formal complaints with the school’s Affirmative Action Office in 2003. In a unanimous decision, the state’s high court ruled on April 1 that complaints made by current students under a university’s anti-harassment policy are “protected by an absolute privilege.” The decision is the first case by the Indiana Supreme Court to address the issue.

The court’s opinion states that the students “acted under the procedure Purdue established. Protecting their complaints with anything less than an absolute privilege could chill some legitimate complaints for fear of retaliatory litigation.”

Further, the opinion states, “Although Purdue’s procedure may lack the trappings of a traditional court proceeding, it is orderly and reasonably fair, requires ‘appropriate discipline’ for those who file knowingly false or malicious complaints, and promises reasonable efforts to restore the reputation of anyone charged with discrimination or harassment that proves unsubstantiated.”

“My clients and I are very pleased with the decision,” says Orr. The ruling puts to rest a matter that began in May 2003, when the students filed their complaints.

Stuart & Branigin LLP, a full-service firm with offices in Lafayette and Indianapolis, has been providing legal services in Indiana since 1878. Today, the law firm has more than 30 experienced lawyers providing legal representation in such diverse areas as civil litigation and appellate matters; banking and creditors’ rights; business counseling; business transactions; buying and selling businesses; design and construction; education; employment; environmental; estates and trusts; health care; insurance; intellectual property; international; real estate, development, and zoning; and taxation.

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