Colby S. Harrington v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Andrea Carroll

CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 29, 2022
Docket2021CA1527
StatusUnknown

This text of Colby S. Harrington v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Andrea Carroll (Colby S. Harrington v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Andrea Carroll) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Colby S. Harrington v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Andrea Carroll, (La. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF LOUISIANA

COURT OF APPEAL

FIRST CIRCUIT

NO. 2021 CA 1527

COLBY S. HARRINGTON

VERSUS

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE AND ANDREA BEAUCHAMP CARROLL

Judgment Rendered: SEP 2 9 2022

On Appeal from the 19th Judicial District Court In and for the Parish of East Baton Rouge State of Louisiana Trial Court No, 691612

Honorable Ronald R. Johnson, Judge Presiding

Mark A. Harrington Attorney for Plaintiff A - ppellant, Benton, LA Colby S. Harrington

Guice A. Giambrone, III Attorneys for Defendants -Appellees,

Craig R. Watson Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State Amanda M. Plaiscia University and Agricultural and Jeremy D. Rush Mechanical College, Andrea Metairie, LA Beauchamp Carroll, Thomas C. and- Galligan, P. Raymond Lamonica, and

Carlton " Trey" Jones, III Alexander Timothy Griffin Johanna A. Posada Baton Rouge, LA

6r T< < A b 3" 5t Ck,. tz C, ' T. Cor, C' -. r 5 C0.SOn 5 G155; 5Ae- e? If w1-- 3 6 y CqH Chez '- J. ccA<-,, ,, s w' r- 1 re-C& 5on 5 J C ItH Antonio M. " Tony" Clayton Attorneys for Defendant -Appellee, Michael P. Fruge Claire Elizabeth Traver Port Allen, LA and-

Andy Dupre New Orleans, LA and-

Kyle Findley Houston, TX

BEFORE: WHIPPLE, C. J., CHUTZ, AND HESTER, JJ.

2 HESTER, J.

This is an appeal by plaintiff, Colby S. Harrington, from the trial court' s

judgment denying his motion for reconsideration and/ or rehearing, sustaining the

peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action raised by

defendants, the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural

and Mechanical College, Andrea Beauchamp Carroll, Thomas C. Galligan, P.

Raymond Lamonica, and Alexander Timothy Griffin, and dismissing Mr.

Harrington' s claim for a mandatory preliminary injunction. For the reasons that

follow, we affirm in part, reverse in part and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Mr. Harrington was a law student at the Louisiana State University Law

Center (" Law Center") in the spring semester of 2018 when administrators at the

Law Center became aware of academic cheating allegations. According to a law

student' s report to administrators, Mr. Harrington and another law student stole

copies of unadministered examinations from faculty offices. Independently, but at

the same approximate time, Law Center staff discovered two " keystroke loggers" 1

that were installed on computers at the Law Center, including one on the computer

of the administrative assistant to several of Mr. Harrington' s professors. Upon

discovering the keystroke loggers, a motion -activated camera was installed in the

administrative assistant' s office, and that same night, the camera recorded a series

of still images of a person in a hooded sweatshirt breaking into the locked office.

The intruder' s identity could not be determined from the still images; however, video

A keystroke logger is a small physical device that resembles a jump drive storage device. It plugs into a USB port on a computer, after which it records all the keystrokes made on that computer, including login credentials of anyone using that computer. Once the keystroke logger has been retrieved, a person who is not authorized to use the computer can extract the login credentials of authorized users from the keystroke logger, thereby gaining unauthorized access to the computer network.

3 footage from another area within the Law Center confirmed Mr. Harrington was

inside the Law Center that night, after hours.

Law Center administrators, including Associate Dean Andrea Beauchamp

Carroll ( Professor Carroll), investigated the allegations during the spring and

summer of 2018. At the beginning of the fall semester in 2018, LSU initiated formal

disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Harrington and sent a formal written complaint

notifying Mr. Harrington of the charges against him. Prior to the disciplinary

hearing, LSU provided Mr. Harrington with a list of anticipated witnesses and

evidence as well as copies of documentary evidence to be used by LSU at the

hearing.

Mr. Harrington' s disciplinary hearing was held on October 15, 2018, before a

panel of three law students and two law faculty members. Mr. Harrington was

represented by an attorney who was allowed to examine witnesses at the hearing and

to present testimony and evidence on behalf of Mr. Harrington. During the hearing,

the panel heard from Mr. Harrington, Law Center faculty and professors, the

administrative assistant whose office was broken into, Dean Thomas Galligan, and

other Law Center students ( including Claire Elizabeth Travor). The panel was also

presented with certain text messages discussing allegations of Mr. Harrington' s

cheating, Mr. Harrington' s Law Center transcript, and a multitude of documents

relating to these professors' final examinations: previously administered and not

circulated exams, and exams for the semester in question, along with Mr.

Harrington' s answers thereto. Thereafter, the panel unanimously found Mr.

Harrington violated the Law Center' s Code of Student Professional Responsibility

and recommended Mr. Harrington be expelled from the Law School. The panel

issued its report on November 1, 2018. Mr. Harrington' s attorney submitted a

response to the report and recommendation and on December 10, 2018, the Law

Center' s Dean designee, Raymond Lamonica, upheld Mr. Harrington' s expulsion,

4 but nonetheless ruled Mr. Harrington could apply for readmission after twelve

months.

On December 10, 2019, Mr. Harrington filed suit against the Board of

Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College

LSU") and Professor Carroll in connection with his expulsion from the Law

Center, raising claims based on breach of contract, due process violations, fraud,

negligence, abuse of rights, and intentional interference of contract. Mr. Harrington

also asserted claims for preliminary and permanent mandatory injunctive relief and

judicial review of a final agency decision under the Louisiana Administrative

Procedure Act, La. R.S. 49:950, et seq. The petition alleged that, after allegations

of cheating swirled around the Law Center, Professor Carroll felt pressure to find a

culprit and adopted the unsubstantiated claims of two students, one a rival classmate,

the other, Mr. Harrington' s ex- girlfriend, to incriminate Mr. Harrington in the

cheating scandal. He further alleged that the pressure Professor Carroll was under

caused her to be biased in her investigation against him, building a case without

actual evidence to show that he cheated.

On August 5, 2020, Mr. Harrington filed a motion and order to set an

evidentiary hearing on his claim for mandatory preliminary injunctive relief. LSU

and Professor Carroll objected to setting the matter for hearing, asserting that the

trial court did not have legal authority to grant Mr. Harrington a mandatory

preliminary injunction and citing Deshotels v. White, 2016- 0889 ( La. App. 1 st Cir.

8/ 16/ 17), 226 So. 3d 1211 ( en bane), writ denied, 2017- 1565 ( La. 1215117), 231

So. 3d 628. Nevertheless, the trial court issued an order setting Mr.

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Colby S. Harrington v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College and Andrea Carroll, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/colby-s-harrington-v-board-of-supervisors-of-louisiana-state-university-lactapp-2022.