Craft v. Board of Trustees

516 F. Supp. 1317, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13213
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 30, 1981
Docket79 C 3521
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 516 F. Supp. 1317 (Craft v. Board of Trustees) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craft v. Board of Trustees, 516 F. Supp. 1317, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13213 (N.D. Ill. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FLAUM, District Judge:

This matter comes before the court on the “university” defendants’ motion to dismiss or strike certain portions of the complaint, the defendant director of the Illinois Department of Registration and Education’s (“DRE”) motion to dismiss certain *1319 portions of the complaint, the federal defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the university defendants’ motion for costs and fees for failure to comply with discovery, the plaintiffs’ motion for a protective order, the university defendants’ motion to compel the plaintiffs to supplement the answers to certain interrogatories, and the university defendants’ motion for a discovery conference. For the reasons set forth below, the university defendants’ motion to dismiss the portion of count I of the complaint regarding alleged deprivations of constitutionally-protected liberty and property interests for failure to state a claim is denied; the university defendants’ motion to dismiss the portion of count I of the complaint regarding alleged deprivations of substantive due process for failure to state a claim is denied; the university defendants’ motion to dismiss the portion of count I of the complaint which alleges that the university defendants conspired to violate the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights for failure to state a claim is denied; the university defendants’ motion to dismiss count II of the complaint for lack of standing on the part of the plaintiffs is granted; the university defendants’ motion to dismiss Creditor and Begando as defendants is denied; and the university defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claim under 31 U.S.C. § 1242 (1978) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim is denied. In addition, the defendant director’s motion to dismiss counts II and III of the complaint for lack of standing on the part of the plaintiffs is granted. Count IV of the complaint as it pertains to the director is dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. The federal defendants’ motion for summary judgment on count IV of the complaint is granted. The court reserves on the university defendants’ motion for costs and fees for failure to comply with discovery. The plaintiffs’ motion for a protective order is denied without prejudice. The university defendants’ motion to compel the plaintiffs to supplement the answers to certain interrogatories is granted. The plaintiffs are ordered to file an amended complaint to comport with this memorandum opinion. In addition, a discovery conference pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f) is set for Wednesday, July 15 at 4:30 p. m. The plaintiffs and university defendants are ordered to exchange lists of remaining discovery prior to the conference.

The complaint in the present case contains many allegations against several defendants. The various allegations are as follows. The plaintiffs Willie Craft (“Craft”) and Louis DeSalle (“DeSalle”) filed suit against the board of trustees of the University of Illinois (“the board”); John Corbally (“Corbally”), president of the University of Illinois (“the university”); Joseph Begando (“Begando”), chancellor of the university at the medical center; Truman Anderson (“Anderson”), former executive dean of the medical school at the medical center (“the medical school”); Morton Creditor (“Creditor”), present executive dean of the medical school; Howard Bers (“Bers”), associate dean for student affairs of the medical school and minority opportunity program (“MOP”) 1 officer; Jerome Silver (“Silver”), chairperson of the medical school’s committee on student appraisal; Gerard Cerchio (“Cerchio”), associate dean of the medical school; Penny Pérsico (“Pérsico”), coordinator of student programs at the medical school; Elizabeth McGrew (“McGrew”), assistant to the associate dean of the medical school; Jack Bulmash (“Bulmash”), faculty member at the medical school; Olga Jonasson (“Jonasson”), chairperson of the committee on student promotions at the medical school; Lawrence Solomon (“Solomon”), past chairperson of the committee on student promotions at the medical school; Leon LeBeau (“LeBeau”), chairperson of the student progress committee at the medical school; Ruth Seelers (“Seelers”), vice-chairperson of the student *1320 progress committee at the medical school; 2 Joan Anderson, the director of the Illinois DRE (“the director”); Patricia Harris (“Harris”), the Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (“HEW”); 3 and Ernest Boyer (“Boyer”), Commissioner of Education of HEW.

The complaint alleges that in 1972 the plaintiffs were enrolled in the university’s medical school pursuant to the MOP which is funded in whole or in part by the federal government. The complaint also alleges that the board and the board’s employees, acting under color of state law, denied equal services and benefits to the plaintiffs based upon their race in violation of the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs allege that the board and the board’s employees had express and implied contracts with the plaintiffs to afford each plaintiff equal treatment and benefits and to fully matriculate the plaintiffs as doctors of medicine upon satisfactory completion of the necessary courses and requirements. The complaint also alleges that defendants Bers, Anderson, and Jonasson intentionally denied benefits to the plaintiffs based upon their race. The plaintiffs also allege that the board intentionally denied benefits and property rights to the plaintiffs based upon their race as part of a policy and custom of the board.

The complaint also alleges that defendants Cerchio, Pérsico, and MeGrew failed to provide the plaintiffs with remedial programs necessary to prepare for the senior certifying examination (“SCE”) 4 as required by a board committee in violation of ' the plaintiffs’ property rights and their rights under the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs allege that defendants Cerchio, Pérsico, and MeGrew conspired to falsely represent the status of the plaintiffs in the remedial program at the medical school, thereby depriving the plaintiffs of their property rights and other constitutional rights. The complaint also alleges that defendant Bulmash was hostile towards plaintiff Craft and intentionally made false representations about Craft to the committee in charge of student promotions in violation of Craft’s constitutional rights.

The complaint also alleges that defendant Solomon intentionally made false statements about Craft to the committee in charge of student promotions which denied Craft “the right to remain a medical student and the liberty to gain useful knowledge to become a medical doctor” in violation of Craft’s constitutional rights. The plaintiffs allege that defendants LeBeau and Seelers knew that a senior remedial program did not exist and falsely represented the progress of the plaintiffs in the nonexistent program, thereby intentionally depriving the plaintiffs of their property rights and other constitutional rights.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
516 F. Supp. 1317, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craft-v-board-of-trustees-ilnd-1981.