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2024-08-12 21:22:00

How to Make #MeToo Offenders Pa

Those who accuse powerful people of sexual harassment and abuse need to be better protected from retaliatory lawsuits.

By Elizabeth Bruenig

Last year, the journalist Aebra Coe published a bombshell story in Law360, a trade publication for people in the legal profession. The article, titled “‘I Suffered Silently’: Ex-Law Prof Allegedly Preyed on Students,” broke the news that Joshua Wright, then a law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commision, had allegedly pressured female students and workplace subordinates into sexual relationships.

Two women lawyers, Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, participated in Title IX proceedings against Wright in 2021, before speaking to Coe. After the article’s publication, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108 million, claiming that they had defamed him in their statements to Law360. Wright admitted to sleeping with his students and subordinates, but claimed that the sex was consensual and the two women were simply “scorned former lovers.” Wright’s lawsuit was initially thrown out by a Virginia judge who gave Wright the opportunity to file an amended complaint, which he did. This suit stuck, and the defamation claims are now set for trial in March 2025. (A representative for Wright told me that this suit has survived motions to dismiss, and that the essence of his complaint is not that Dorsey and Landry “outed” him, but that they allegedly lied about their consent and episodes of assault.)Last year, the journalist Aebra Coe published a bombshell story in Law360, a trade publication for people in the legal profession. The article, titled “‘I Suffered Silently’: Ex-Law Prof Allegedly Preyed on Students,” broke the news that Joshua Wright, then a law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commision, had allegedly pressured female students and workplace subordinates into sexual relationships.

Two women lawyers, Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, participated in Title IX proceedings against Wright in 2021, before speaking to Coe. After the article’s publication, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108 million, claiming that they had defamed him in their statements to Law360. Wright admitted to sleeping with his students and subordinates, but claimed that the sex was consensual and the two women were simply “scorned former lovers.” Wright’s lawsuit was initially thrown out by a Virginia judge who gave Wright the opportunity to file an amended complaint, which he did. This suit stuck, and the defamation claims are now set for trial in March 2025. (A representative for Wright told me that this suit has survived motions to dismiss, and that the essence of his complaint is not that Dorsey and Landry “outed” him, but that they allegedly lied about their consent and episodes of assault.)

Last year, the journalist Aebra Coe published a bombshell story in Law360, a trade publication for people in the legal profession. The article, titled “‘I Suffered Silently’: Ex-Law Prof Allegedly Preyed on Students,” broke the news that Joshua Wright, then a law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commision, had allegedly pressured female students and workplace subordinates into sexual relationships.

Two women lawyers, Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, participated in Title IX proceedings against Wright in 2021, before speaking to Coe. After the article’s publication, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108 million, claiming that they had defamed him in their statements to Law360. Wright admitted to sleeping with his students and subordinates, but claimed that the sex was consensual and the two women were simply “scorned former lovers.” Wright’s lawsuit was initially thrown out by a Virginia judge who gave Wright the opportunity to file an amended complaint, which he did. This suit stuck, and the defamation claims are now set for trial in March 2025. (A representative for Wright told me that this suit has survived motions to dismiss, and that the essence of his complaint is not that Dorsey and Landry “outed” him, but that they allegedly lied about their consent and episodes of assault.)

Last year, the journalist Aebra Coe published a bombshell story in Law360, a trade publication for people in the legal profession. The article, titled “‘I Suffered Silently’: Ex-Law Prof Allegedly Preyed on Students,” broke the news that Joshua Wright, then a law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commision, had allegedly pressured female students and workplace subordinates into sexual relationships.

Two women lawyers, Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, participated in Title IX proceedings against Wright in 2021, before speaking to Coe. After the article’s publication, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108 million, claiming that they had defamed him in their statements to Law360. Wright admitted to sleeping with his students and subordinates, but claimed that the sex was consensual and the two women were simply “scorned former lovers.” Wright’s lawsuit was initially thrown out by a Virginia judge who gave Wright the opportunity to file an amended complaint, which he did. This suit stuck, and the defamation claims are now set for trial in March 2025. (A representative for Wright told me that this suit has survived motions to dismiss, and that the essence of his complaint is not that Dorsey and Landry “outed” him, but that they allegedly lied about their consent and episodes of assault.)Last year, the journalist Aebra Coe published a bombshell story in Law360, a trade publication for people in the legal profession. The article, titled “‘I Suffered Silently’: Ex-Law Prof Allegedly Preyed on Students,” broke the news that Joshua Wright, then a law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the former commissioner of the Federal Trade Commision, had allegedly pressured female students and workplace subordinates into sexual relationships.

Two women lawyers, Elyse Dorsey and Angela Landry, participated in Title IX proceedings against Wright in 2021, before speaking to Coe. After the article’s publication, Wright sued Dorsey and Landry for $108 million, claiming that they had defamed him in their statements to Law360. Wright admitted to sleeping with his students and subordinates, but claimed that the sex was consensual and the two women were simply “scorned former lovers.” Wright’s lawsuit was initially thrown out by a Virginia judge who gave Wright the opportunity to file an amended complaint, which he did. This suit stuck, and the defamation claims are now set for trial in March 2025. (A representative for Wright told me that this suit has survived motions to dismiss, and that the essence of his complaint is not that Dorsey and Landry “outed” him, but that they allegedly lied about their consent and episodes of assault.)