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NOT GETTING SUED. Elizabeth P. Stedman, J.D. Asst. Area Coordinator Rutgers - Camden. A DISCLAIMER. Today’s talk does not constitute legal advice. Always listen to your university’s legal counsel over anything I say today.
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NOT GETTING SUED Elizabeth P. Stedman, J.D. Asst. Area Coordinator Rutgers - Camden
A DISCLAIMER • Today’s talk does not constitute legal advice. • Always listen to your university’s legal counsel over anything I say today. • I am not a lawyer for Rutgers, and nothing I say today represents the opinions of Rutgers. • Today I am trying to increase your sense of legal implications.
NOT getting sued • Duty • Residents’ Mental Health • Defamation • Torts: Keeping the Place Safe • Searches • Fights • Sexual Harassment • 1st Amendment • Times of Crisis • Incident Reports • Specific Situations
Types of Cases about which you should be concerned Civil Cases Criminal Cases • Usually seek $$$ • Trying to right a non-criminal wrong • Lower standard of proof: “preponderance of the evidence,” i.e., “more likely than not” • Involves a crime • State v. citizen • Penal • Higher standard of proof: “beyond a reasonable doubt”
DUTY Beyond that time with the phone.
Residents’ mental health Just tell someone
Residents’ mental health • REPORT EVERYTHING. • REPORT EVERYTHING. • REPORT EVERYTHING.
Residents’ mental health • Your position → a duty to report • You do not have choice whether to report • E.g., family problems, school stress, eating disorders, OCD, difficulties with roommates, homesickness, bullying, dating violence, etc.
DEFAMATION • False statement concerning a person • Told/written to a 3rd person • Caused harm to original person • Slander: Spoken defamation • Libel: Written defamation
DEFAMATION Defamation per se (defamatory because you said/wrote it): Imputations of criminal conduct Allegations injurious to another in their trade, business, or profession Imputations of loathsome disease Imputations of unchastity in a woman
TORTS:NEGLIGENCE • Duty (your position entails certain duties) • Breach • Causation • Damages
TORTS:KEEPING THE PLACE SAFE • Most slip, trip and fall incidents preventable with general precautions and safety measures • If you see water, ice, upturned carpets, potholes, loose tiles, anything over which someone could trip, loose wires, papers, etc.
SEARCHES • 4th Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
SEARCHES • “Reasonable” searches: • Consent • Plain view • Emergencies • Health and safety
FIGHTS Do not touch residents Keep self safe first Do not be a hero Mentally record everything Contact police ASAP
PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLAIMS AGAINST YOU Title IXof the Education Amendments of 1972 states: “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Do not touch residents even in friendly manner Do not use sexual slang Do not display sexual images Do not make sexually suggestive remarks even in jest Remember to keep your Facebook pages clean
PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT by others implicating YOU Can also face liability for Title IX violations in cases of sexual harassment where a victim reports the behavior to a school official, and the school official acts “deliberately indifferent” “School official” = anyone a student could reasonably expect as having the authority to act Therefore, violation if behavior reported to you, and you do nothing
1st amendment 1st Amendment: “Congressshall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
1st amendment 1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
TIMES OF CRISIS Residents will do bad things. Not your job or your problem to resolve their behavioral or legal dilemmas. They will be the first ones to throw you under the bus if they are involved in legal trouble. DO NOT TALK. Listen to everything and mentally record.
TIMES OF CRISIS NEVER NEVERNEVER: Openly cast judgment Tell them “everything will be okay.” Tell them “it’s not your fault” Side with them Give them legal advice Tell them how to avoid the police/security
INCIDENT REPORTS Never lie. Details will protect you! Details show how you were proactive in a situation. Detail resident involvement. Will either help or hurt them. Not your job to protect them from the consequences of their bad behavior.
