What Happened: A second appeal has been filed in the wrongful termination lawsuit, which found CU President Bashar Hanna, former Provost Dr. James Krause, Bloomsburg University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) liable and ordered to pay $3.9 million. This second appeal was sent to the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, one step below the Supreme Court.
Why it Matters: Every day the full amount of the verdict is not paid, it accumulates interest. As reported by The Voice, that daily interest is currently set at $480.72. As of today, the estimated amount of interest accumulated as of March sits around $101,000.
In an interview with The Voice, President Bashar Hanna revealed that, should an appeal be denied and the verdict must be paid, the money would be paid from the university’s reserves.
In an interview in March, Suzanne Williams, the vice president for administration and chief of staff, revealed that that is still the case, coming from a litigation fund that was created last year for all three universities. Williams stated that there would be “no direct impact to students” as a result of this, stating a situation like this is the “reason why we have these there.” Williams also described how they were working with the office of the attorney general during the appeal process.
Parties Respond: Hanna spoke to The Voice staff, where he affirmed his optimism at the prospect of the second appeal, saying, “I’m an eternal optimist because I know what transpired, and unfortunately, that’s not what came out during the trial, so I continue to be cautiously optimistic that the truth will ultimately come out,” Hanna said.
Furthermore, he expressed, “The students of the university have always been my North Star. I wake up every morning along with my entire leadership team with one goal, one aim: to make the students’ lives on our campus positive and to help them to get their degree attained.”
On the topic of the verdict’s accumulating interest, Hanna stated, “That’s really the one thing that continues to be part of the conversation with the attorney general, with the chancellor to make sure that we are assessing the risk versus the opportunity so that we are not taking risks that are unreasonable but continuing to look at every option that available to us to make sure that we do not wind up being placed in a corner that we don’t wanna find ourselves in.”
Meanwhile, Patrick O’Connell, who represents former Dean of Business Dean Krug, expressed his belief that a dismissal of the second appeal is “inevitable.”
“It’s deny and delay. Dr. Krug was wronged; the defendants are eventually going to be forced to pay,” said O’Connell.
O’Connell estimates that by the time the judgment is concluded, the initial $3.9 million verdict could be well over $6 million after attorneys’ fees and interest are included.
The Voice will continue to report on this story as it develops.
