Rotunda Sex-Harass Suit Against George Mason Legal Clinic Exec Is Settled
A sexual harassment lawsuit filed against a George Mason University legal clinic executive director has been settled.
Plaintiff Kyndra Rotunda, a former director of the clinic who is the wife of constitutional law scholar Ron Rotunda, has agreed to a confidential settlement of her claims against Joseph Zengerle. It involves no monetary payment to the plaintiff, lawyers for both sides have confirmed to the ABA Journal.
Details weren’t provided, but attorney Richard Seymour, who represents Rotunda, said she obtained unspecified “equitable relief” through the settlement. “It’s very significant to her, and it’s taken a long time to get it, but she’s happy now that she has it,” he told the ABA Journal.
“Ms. Rotunda is pleased to have reached a settlement with all parties,” Seymour said in statement provided later via e-mail. “She obtained equitable relief that she has been seeking since before she left George Mason Law School almost three years ago. Money has never been the central issue in her lawsuit, and she is delighted with the relief she obtained.”
The settlement followed a ruling from the bench last month by a federal judge in Virginia shortly before a scheduled trial, dismissing all of Kyndra Rotunda’s related claims against GMU’s law school and its dean and most of her claims against Zengerle.
At that point, all that remained of the case were two pendent state-law tort claims against Zengerle, for what his attorney, Michael Lorenger, described as nonsexual assault and battery. These claims were based, Lorenger told the ABA Journal in an e-mail, “on her allegation that Mr. Zengerle brushed by her in a hallway three years ago—an event she said took no more than ‘a second or so.’ ”
An earlier ABAJournal.com post provides additional details about the case:
George Mason, Law Dean Win Bench Dismissal of Rotunda Sex-Harass Suit
