Murray v. Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill

782 S.E.2d 531, 246 N.C. App. 86, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 233
CourtCourt of Appeals of North Carolina
DecidedMarch 1, 2016
Docket15-375
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 782 S.E.2d 531 (Murray v. Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray v. Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, 782 S.E.2d 531, 246 N.C. App. 86, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 233 (N.C. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

GEER, Judge.

*86Defendant, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, appeals the superior court's denial of its motion to dismiss plaintiff Jillian Murray's complaint. Although acknowledging that this appeal is interlocutory, defendant argues that it is entitled to appeal because the trial court denied its motion to dismiss on sovereign immunity grounds.

*87However, we are bound by Can Am S., LLC v. State, 234 N.C.App. 119, 122, 759 S.E.2d 304, 307, disc. review denied, 367 N.C. 791, 766 S.E.2d 624 (2014), in which this Court, after surveying the controlling authority, held that when a defendant raises the issue of sovereign immunity under Rule 12(b)(1) of the Rules of Civil Procedure, a denial of that motion is not immediately appealable. Since the only sovereign immunity argument preserved below raised the issue under Rule 12(b)(1), this Court does not have jurisdiction over this appeal. Although defendant also argues that this case is moot, defendant has not made any argument that this Court has jurisdiction over that issue in the absence of a proper appeal of the sovereign immunity issue. We, therefore, dismiss the appeal.

Facts

Plaintiff's complaint alleges the following facts. On 12 January 2013, plaintiff, a student at defendant university, was violently *533sexually assaulted by a fellow classmate. Plaintiff emailed Dean Blackburn, the Associate Dean of Students for defendant, and requested information regarding the rights of sexual assault victims. Dean Blackburn failed to respond to plaintiff's inquiry for 20 days. On 4 February 2013, Dean Blackburn wrote to plaintiff, stating that her request "simply got lost in [his] inbox" and indicated that Desiree Rieckenberg, the Associate Dean and Student Complaint Coordinator, would contact her in the next 24 hours.

On 22 February 2013, plaintiff was allowed to meet with Dean Rieckenberg, who informed plaintiff that defendant's Title IX grievance system was in a "state of transition" and that she would "tell someone appropriate and get back in touch" with her. Dean Rieckenberg never provided plaintiff with defendant's sexual misconduct policy, never advised her of her rights under the policy, and never contacted her again. Plaintiff alleged that she became despondent and depressed due to the trauma from the assault and defendant's lack of response to her allegations and was unable to complete her spring semester.

Around January 2014, plaintiff told her parents about the sexual assault and the lack of response from defendant when she tried to report it. Plaintiff and her parents reached out to officials of defendant, but were informed that defendant did not regard her reports as "a formal complaint" under its Title IX policy. On 29 January 2014, plaintiff wrote to E.W. Quimbaya-Winship1 that she was "a victim of sexual assault"

*88and that she "would like to make a formal report" regarding the assault. Plaintiff accepted Mr. Quimbaya-Winship's offer to make a complaint over the phone on 31 January 2014.

At the time of plaintiff's complaint, defendant had in place a sexual misconduct policy titled defendant's "Policy on Prohibited Harassment, Including Sexual Misconduct, and Discrimination." The policy provided that defendant would "promptly investigate and prepare a confidential Investigation Report within forty-five (45) calendar days of receiving the complaint, unless an extension of time is necessary in order to conduct a thorough and accurate investigation." If such extension of time was found to be necessary, the policy stated that defendant would provide the parties with written notification of the revised deadline for the report's completion.

On 21 February 2014, plaintiff and her parents met with officials of defendant and spoke with Title IX investigators, including Jayne Grandes and Kim Dixon. Investigator Grandes was assigned to investigate plaintiff's complaint on 5 March 2014, and Investigator Dixon was assigned to co-investigate it on 24 March 2014. Investigator Grandes emailed plaintiff on 17 April 2014, 76 days after plaintiff filed her 31 January 2014 complaint, and notified her that the date for completion of the investigation had been extended to 19 May 2014, 108 days after the date plaintiff filed her complaint. Investigators Grandes and Dixon submitted their report to defendant's Title IX coordinator on 19 May 2014. The report found "good cause to proceed to Informal or Formal Resolution of the complaint, as outlined in Sections IV and V of Appendix C to the Policy."

On 11 July 2014, Professor Robert P. Joyce emailed plaintiff to inform her that he had appointed himself chair of her grievance procedure and had appointed Clair McLaughlin, an undergraduate student with little Title IX training, no legal training, and only intermittent internet access because she was spending the summer in the Philippines, as plaintiff's "advisor." In addition, Professor Joyce informed plaintiff that pursuant to "Section V.E.2 of the Policy" plaintiff was entitled to "have a support person present in addition to [the] appointed advisor[,]" and the policy stated "[t]hat support person may be an attorney." At that time, section V.E.2 of Appendix C of the policy stated: "[t]he support person, who may be legal counsel, may privately consult with and advise a party but may not question witnesses or otherwise directly participate in the proceedings."

On 24 July 2014, Bernard Burk, the new panel chair, emailed plaintiff a document titled "Notice of Procedures Governing Student Grievance *89Hearing," which applied only *534to plaintiff's specific grievance procedure. The document stated that an attorney could be present only as a " Support Person" and would not be entitled to receive direct communications on behalf of the student he represents. It also stated:

your Support Person may participate fully in the proceedings in any way that you yourself may participate. Thus your Support Person may, if you wish, address the Panel and question witnesses other than the opposing party (under the Policy, the parties may be questioned only by the Panel).

In addition, it explained:

You are responsible for communicating with your attorney or non-attorney support person ("Support Person").... If contacted by your Support Person about matters related to the hearing, I will send my response to you (with a copy to the other party) and request that you communicate my response to your Support Person.

On 29 July 2014, Henry C.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Doe v. Fulton
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2026
Brady v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ.
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2025
Howell v. Cooper
Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2023
Seguro-Suarez by and Through Connette v. Key Risk Ins. Co.
819 S.E.2d 741 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2018)
Murray v. Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill
Supreme Court of North Carolina, 2017
Page by and Through McCabe v. Shu Chaing
799 S.E.2d 626 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2017)
The News & Observer Publ'g Co. v. McCrory
795 S.E.2d 243 (Court of Appeals of North Carolina, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
782 S.E.2d 531, 246 N.C. App. 86, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-univ-of-nc-at-chapel-hill-ncctapp-2016.