Feb 22 (Reuters) - A federal judge has split up a
lawsuit accusing six law schools of age discrimination, sending
claims against four of the law schools to courts in their home
districts.
Nicholas Spaeth, the former state attorney general of North
Dakota, filed the lawsuit last July. Spaeth alleged that six law
schools and officers of those schools violated the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act by not offering him a
tenure-track teaching job when he applied.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle on Friday granted
four defendants' motions to sever their claims from the case and
transfer them. Claims against Michigan State University College
of Law will be sent to the Western District of Michigan; claims
against the University of Missouri School of Law to the Western
District of Missouri; claims against University of California
Hastings College of the Law to the Northern District of
California; and claims against the University of Iowa College of
Law to the Southern District of Iowa.
"The Court concludes that the balance of convenience of the
parties and witnesses are in favor of transferring" these claims
to their home districts, the judge ruled.
Daniel Prywes, an attorney for the defendants, declined to
comment.
Lynne Bernabei, an attorney for Spaeth, could not be reached
for comment.
Huvelle did not rule on the merits of the case. She also did
not rule on claims against two defendants: Georgetown University
and the University of Maryland. Those claims remain before her
court.
Spaeth, 63, served as North Dakota's attorney general from
1985 to 1993. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School in
1977 and previously taught law at University of Minnesota Law
School and University of Missouri School of Law.
He is seeking a court order calling on each defendant law
school to offer him a tenure-track teaching position,
compensation for future lost wages and other damages.
The case is Spaeth v. Michigan State University College
of Law, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 11-1376
(ESH)
For the plaintiffs: Lynne Bernabei and Alan Robert Kabat,
Bernabei & Wachtel.
For the defendants: John Simpson, Michelle Pardo and
Rebecca Bazan of Fulbright & Jaworski; Daniel Prywes of Bryan
Cave; William David Nussbaum of Hogan Lovells; Susanne Harris
Carnell of Lorenger & Carnell; George Andrew Carroll of the
State of Iowa; Sara Slaff of the Maryland Office of the Attorney
General.
(Reporting by Moira Herbst)
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