Lawyers representing former Yale men’s basketball captain Jack Montague are preparing for discussions of a possible settlement of his lawsuit against the university, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
The meeting with attorneys is scheduled Tuesday before Judge William Garfinkel in federal court in Bridgeport, per the AP.
After being found guilty of violating Yale University’s sexual misconduct policy in the winter of 2016 and expelled a few months prior to his graduation, Montague sued the school in June 2016. The suit, which requested a return to the school and monetary damages, claimed the university’s treatment of Montague was “wrong, unfairly determined, arbitrary and excessive by any rational measure,” while accusing the school of breach of contract, Title IX violations, breach of confidentiality and defamation.
U.S. District Judge Alfred Covello in a ruling last month denied Yale’s motion to throw out many of Montague’s claims, including that a Title IX officer improperly coerced the woman involved to cooperate with the school’s complaint that led to his expulsion. The judge, however, tossed out several of Montague’s arguments, including that the school’s actions in both cases were the result of a gender bias against him.
While attempting to reverse the expulsion and complete his final semester at Yale, Montague enrolled at Belmont University. The Brentwood, Tenn. native was accepted into the Nashville school’s adult study program, a course of study designed for adults hoping to complete undergraduate degrees on a time-flexible schedule. He was able to transfer after Yale waived a $3,000 tuition debt and released his transcript.
According to Karen Schwartzman, Montague’s spokeswoman, several of his credits did not transfer and he would have to complete two semesters at Belmont to graduate. Montague has attended Belmont from 2017 to 2019 and is currently a realtor for Keller Williams Realty in the greater Nashville area, according to his LinkedIn page.
In Januray 2018, Yale settled a lawsuit filed by a former student accusing the university of unfairly expelling him over false sexual assault allegations in 2012. That agreement, according to a university spokesman, did not include any payment or change in disciplinary action against the student.
I am not a lawyer, but I get the feeling that Yale University is about to make Jack Montague a rich man. Duke University paid the three lacrosse players $20 million each to settle their case.
The Duke situation was different in that obviously it was headline national news for over a year. Montague’s case does not entail that level of notoriety, but Yale was arguably more at fault than Duke was.
When the lacrosse case broke, Duke was scrambling with the bad press and made several errors of omission. Yale committed errors of commission, which in my opinion are a greater sin.