lawsuit
Trial Preparations and Full Explanations
Sun, Jan13, 2008 - Category: School of
Law
As Tom Monaghan and his
Ave Maria generals (including Collier Co. CEO Paul
Marinielli) prepare to be deposed, a few things
are worth remembering:
In a July 20 2007 interview on Fox 2 News (Detroit),
AMSL Dean Bernard Dobranski said that Tom Monaghan
was informed of what transpired when the Law School
offered computer help to a local priest investigated
for child pornography (see BoysCherries series;
hear audio). According to Fox,
Monaghan's Law School chose not to share the
findings of its internal "investigation" with
police "claiming privacy and no fresh
information".
That said, Mr. Monaghan should be considered by
everyone to be a fully informed participant in
the BoysCherries incident. We give him no wiggle room
for claiming lack of understanding of all that
transpired. We trust that he was fully aware
of the fact that at least one of his Ave Maria
College employees was, according to police reports,
in direct contact with the priest's pornographic hard
drive. In the upcoming trial's fact finding, if
anything comes out showing inconsistency,
falsehood, half-truths, or more extensive involvement
of previously named or unnamed individuals, we will
hold Mr. Monaghan responsible for (a) not offering a
complete explanation of the events and (b) denying
the police their right to investigate matters for
themselves. It will be deeply problematic for
Monaghan if there is any whiff that what
transpired was more than what was publicly disclosed;
given the seriousness of the matter, a cloud of
distrust will hover over Monaghan in all things Ave
Maria, including his Town.
An explanation remains open as to how the priest and
his parish supporter - both of whom lacked computer
technical skill - garnered the instructions and skill
to remove the pornographic drive and to
install/format the brand new hard drive.
Before the trial starts, it is also worth considering
Dean Dobranski's boundless tolerance for the
outrageous public remarks made week after week by his
"buddy" AMSL Chaplain Fr. Michael Orsi (1,2,3,4)...
and compare that to Dobranski's harsh and abrupt
termination
of tenured founding professor Steve Safranek
based, supposedly, on thin
and misleading
reasons. Remember, it was Orsi who
invited the BoysCherries scandal upon the
Law School... and it was Orsi who, according to
reports, never even bothered to tell the Dean
about the incident until after Dobranski
was informed by another source.
Dobranski's seemingly insurmountable task is to put
lipstick on the obviously ugly mug of arbitrary
employee treatment, as typified by where Orsi and
Safranek are today. There isn't enough makeup at a
Marco Island community meeting to coverup that boss
hog.
"More Definite" Motion Denied
Thu, Dec20, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
According to Sarah Prescott of the Law Offices of Deborah L.
Gordon, the motion
For More Definite Statement filed by Tom
Monaghan's lawyers on November 26 was denied
yesterday in Washtenaw County Circuit Court. The
motion was in response to the whistleblower suit
filed by three terminated Ave Maria School of
Law professors. (background;
series) In
opposition to the motion, "the judge stated that
the complaint [filed by the professors] met
Michigan's standard for pleading, which is
simply to place the defendant on notice of the
nature of the claim asserted". According to
Prescott, "They will need to file an answer to
the complaint now that this is resolved."
Monaghan and the Ave Maria Foundation have 21 days to produce discovery responses. Although no date is scheduled for depositions, late January is the anticipated time frame.
Commentary - Fumare
Tom Monaghan did not have a good week in court. On Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court denied a request by Monaghan in another whistleblower wrongful-termination suit. That suit was filed over three years ago by the former director of federal financial aid at Ave Maria College. Her suit, and the suits of the three law school professors, will now move forward in court as Monaghan and top Ave Maria administrators prepare to be deposed.
Monaghan and the Ave Maria Foundation have 21 days to produce discovery responses. Although no date is scheduled for depositions, late January is the anticipated time frame.
Commentary - Fumare
Tom Monaghan did not have a good week in court. On Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court denied a request by Monaghan in another whistleblower wrongful-termination suit. That suit was filed over three years ago by the former director of federal financial aid at Ave Maria College. Her suit, and the suits of the three law school professors, will now move forward in court as Monaghan and top Ave Maria administrators prepare to be deposed.
Supreme Court Denies Monaghan
Sun, Dec16, 2007 - Category: University
UPDATE,
12/17/07 - Michigan Lawyers Weekly has
additional coverage
On Friday (Dec. 14), the Michigan Supreme Court denied Tom Monaghan's request that the Court review his failed appeal involving a wrongful termination whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Ave Maria College employee Katherine Ernsting. For well over 2.5 years, Monaghan tried every legal approach in the book to keep Ernsting's case from coming to trial. The Supreme Court was his last hope. The Court said:
"On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 6, 2007 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court."
A copy of the Court's ruling is here (PDF).
Ernsting was fired by Monaghan shortly after she provided the U.S. Department of Education (ED) with information requested by the ED concerning Ave Maria operations. That investigation ultimately caught Ave Maria in a financial aid sleight of hand that was benefiting the start-up Ave Maria University in Florida. Monaghan was forced to pay over $250,000 back to the government. Monaghan's lawyers claim that Ernsting's termination was part of the "wind down" of Ave Maria College Michigan. But, this appears to be a weak argument since, at the time of Ernsting's firing, there were still approximately 200 students at the College. The law mandates that a person be assigned to oversee the distribution of federal aid at an academic institution; so, another person was hired to replace Ernsting as chief financial aid officer of the College.
The Ernsting case has already received attention in the legal media; since the case is now free to go to trial, it will surely receive more public attention.
Ernsting case background | Supreme Court case background
A summary of the AveWatch articles that cover the growing number of lawsuits against Tom Monaghan can be found here. AveWatch's RSS Feed is here (try Google Reader).
On Friday (Dec. 14), the Michigan Supreme Court denied Tom Monaghan's request that the Court review his failed appeal involving a wrongful termination whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Ave Maria College employee Katherine Ernsting. For well over 2.5 years, Monaghan tried every legal approach in the book to keep Ernsting's case from coming to trial. The Supreme Court was his last hope. The Court said:
"On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 6, 2007 judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered, and it is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court."
A copy of the Court's ruling is here (PDF).
Ernsting was fired by Monaghan shortly after she provided the U.S. Department of Education (ED) with information requested by the ED concerning Ave Maria operations. That investigation ultimately caught Ave Maria in a financial aid sleight of hand that was benefiting the start-up Ave Maria University in Florida. Monaghan was forced to pay over $250,000 back to the government. Monaghan's lawyers claim that Ernsting's termination was part of the "wind down" of Ave Maria College Michigan. But, this appears to be a weak argument since, at the time of Ernsting's firing, there were still approximately 200 students at the College. The law mandates that a person be assigned to oversee the distribution of federal aid at an academic institution; so, another person was hired to replace Ernsting as chief financial aid officer of the College.
The Ernsting case has already received attention in the legal media; since the case is now free to go to trial, it will surely receive more public attention.
Ernsting case background | Supreme Court case background
A summary of the AveWatch articles that cover the growing number of lawsuits against Tom Monaghan can be found here. AveWatch's RSS Feed is here (try Google Reader).
Monaghan Files Lawsuit Docs
Tue, Dec11, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
UPDATE,
12/12/2007 - coverage by: fumare
Lawyers for Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski recently filed responses to the lawsuits of former AMSL professors Steven Safranek, Phil Pucillo, and Edward Lyons (background; series; see also "Dean runs amok" series)
Answers from Butzel Long, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (3.3 MB)
More Definite Statement Request from Pear, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (1.6 MB)
Protective Order from Pear, filed Nov. 29, 2007 - PDF (644 KB)
Analysis of the responses will follow in the coming days. A key issue seems to exist over the timing of AMSL's decision to uproot the school to Chairman Monaghan's for-profit Florida real estate development:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 43:
"In September, 2003, in part due to a feasibility study which had been conducted, the Board decided that it was premature at that time to make a decision to relocate. From September, 2003 until late 2005, the issue of relocation was dormant as far as the Board of Governors was concerned."
But this notion that "the issue of relocation was dormant" for the Board between 2003-2005 contradicts the institution's own press release announcing the move:
+ AMSL PR release (Feb. 20, 2007):
"After almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating, the Board of Governors determined that moving to Ave Maria, Fla., will give the Law School its best opportunity to thrive..."
+ Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 20, 2007):
"Bernard Dobranski, the law school’s president and dean, said in an interview that its Board of Governors had decided on the move after five years of discussing its options."
The timing is important to establish the influence of Monaghan's real estate development decisions on the AMSL Board, and whether the American Bar Association was given an accurate picture of the school's financial health and the events leading to the decision to relocate to Monaghan's Florida development.
+ Butzel Answer, paragraph 44:
"... defendants AMSL and Dobranski deny as untrue plaintiffs' allegations that Thomas Monaghan acted through Dobranski to manipulate faculty, staff or the Board of Governors..."
+ Problem - Judge James Ryan, a Board member of Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College; statement to faculty, Winter 2003:
"We [the Board] are just here to help Tom spend his money... We all need to remember that this is Tom's enterprise."
"We just do what Tom asks..."
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 47:
"In the application to the ABA [submitted Sept. 10, 2004] for full accreditation, AMSL presented five year budgets which relied upon Ave Maria Foundation subsidies, but the application did not include specific and firm commitments by Thomas Monaghan or the Ave Maria Foundation to fund AMSL at least through the 2009-2010 academic year."
+ Problem - Sept. 10, 2004 + 5 years = September 10, 2009, which is within the 2009-2010 academic year. Are we to believe that the ABA would have granted AMSL full accreditation if it knew that Monaghan was not giving AMSL a "specific and firm commitment"?
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 45:
"Dobranski does not recall whether he told the ABA that there were no plans to move the Law School at the time AMSL was seeking full accreditation. If he did, it would have been a true statement at the time, since there were no such plans."
+ Problem - This is typical Dobranski lawyer-speak. Dobranski appears to think that his and the Board's "discussing its options" with "almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating" does not constitute "plans" to move. This would be akin to me saying that I have no "plan" to move to Ann Arbor even though I've interviewed twice for a job at the University of Michigan, met with a real estate agent, applied for preliminary approval with a local mortgage provider, had house plans drawn by an architect, and completed (but had yet to submit) the forms to enroll my kids in Ann Arbor schools. If, in Dobranski's world, "plans" only means the period after a decision is made, one must revisit the same question that AveWatch asked immediately after the February 2007 announcement of AMSL's move to Monaghan's Florida development - How is it that Ave Maria was able to organize a media blitz in two states, a 48-hour home sale in Monaghan's development, and secure congratulations from the Governor of Florida without any business days after the vote? Within days after the announcement there were snazzy videos, beautiful brochures, and statements released from the likes of Robert Bork promoting Monaghan's real estate development and AMSL's move. No "plans"? Yeah, right.
The same brand of Clinton-esque speak was used in the "Answers" document to address the BoysCherries child pornography incident that AMSL invited upon itself. AveWatch thoroughly dissected Dobranski's weak response to that incident here (background; series).
The most disgusting part of "Answers" deals with the firing of tenure-track professors Lyons and Pucillo:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 78:
".. Dobranski recalls advising plaintiffs Lyons and Pucillo, at the time they were told of their promotion to Associate Professor, that they were making satisfactory progress toward tenure."
When were they promoted? - Lyons in 2005 and Pucillo in 2006. Then, in 2007, AMSL dumped the professors in August, just prior to the semester's start, claiming (paragraph 81) that it was "based on their failure to meet their burden of establishing that they had met the requirements for tenure".
How in the world do faculty members promoted to Associate Professor by the Dean, who are told by the Dean himself that tenure progress is good less than one or two years earlier - and who are endorsed for tenure after review by the institution's Committee on Appointments and Tenure - how do such professors then get denied single-handedly by the Dean in the end?! It should also be remembered that Lyons and Pucillo were not scheduled for an internal appeal-hearing about these matters until after the lawsuit was filed.
In law schools, standard practice is to tell professors of a denied tenure application in February, not August as Dobranski did. A hearing is then typically scheduled within days so that the professors can know with certainty, before the end of the Spring semester, whether the coming year will be their last. In any other reputable institution, it would be the Dean who was terminated in a case like this for not providing adequate warning to professors in a timely fashion such that deficiencies could be corrected. It shows Dobranski as an amateurish Dean who is not beneath the destruction and manipulation of people to send a warning to others who might oppose him. The law school community and Catholic scholars should consider a sanction against Dobranski for such deplorable administration.
On Oct. 23, Deborah Gordon, the attorney for Safranek, Lyons, and Pucillo, filed a Notice of Taking Depositions from Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski on Dec. 17 and 18, respectively. But, to avoid such action, lawyers from Monaghan make an astounding claim:
+ from Motion for Protective Order, Karl Fink, attorney for Monaghan, Nov. 27, 2007:
"... the factual basis for including AMF and Monaghan in this employment case is not readily apparent from the face of the Complaint, other than the obvious publicity bonus that Plaintiffs would like to achieve by sweeping them into the controversy."
So, are we to believe that Tom Monaghan's involvement in AMSL's governance (i.e. employment decisions) and finances - as the AMSL Chairman and principle financier who pulled the school to his for-profit south Florida real estate development - that his involvement in the lawsuit is just a publicity stunt? This is laughable to the point of pathetic. We eagerly look forward to Monaghan answering questions, under oath, about his management of all things Ave Maria, both non-profit and for-profit (including his dealings with the Baron Collier Company).
Lawyers for Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski recently filed responses to the lawsuits of former AMSL professors Steven Safranek, Phil Pucillo, and Edward Lyons (background; series; see also "Dean runs amok" series)
Answers from Butzel Long, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (3.3 MB)
More Definite Statement Request from Pear, filed Nov. 26, 2007 - PDF (1.6 MB)
Protective Order from Pear, filed Nov. 29, 2007 - PDF (644 KB)
Analysis of the responses will follow in the coming days. A key issue seems to exist over the timing of AMSL's decision to uproot the school to Chairman Monaghan's for-profit Florida real estate development:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 43:
"In September, 2003, in part due to a feasibility study which had been conducted, the Board decided that it was premature at that time to make a decision to relocate. From September, 2003 until late 2005, the issue of relocation was dormant as far as the Board of Governors was concerned."
But this notion that "the issue of relocation was dormant" for the Board between 2003-2005 contradicts the institution's own press release announcing the move:
+ AMSL PR release (Feb. 20, 2007):
"After almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating, the Board of Governors determined that moving to Ave Maria, Fla., will give the Law School its best opportunity to thrive..."
+ Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 20, 2007):
"Bernard Dobranski, the law school’s president and dean, said in an interview that its Board of Governors had decided on the move after five years of discussing its options."
The timing is important to establish the influence of Monaghan's real estate development decisions on the AMSL Board, and whether the American Bar Association was given an accurate picture of the school's financial health and the events leading to the decision to relocate to Monaghan's Florida development.
+ Butzel Answer, paragraph 44:
"... defendants AMSL and Dobranski deny as untrue plaintiffs' allegations that Thomas Monaghan acted through Dobranski to manipulate faculty, staff or the Board of Governors..."
+ Problem - Judge James Ryan, a Board member of Ave Maria School of Law and Ave Maria College; statement to faculty, Winter 2003:
"We [the Board] are just here to help Tom spend his money... We all need to remember that this is Tom's enterprise."
"We just do what Tom asks..."
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 47:
"In the application to the ABA [submitted Sept. 10, 2004] for full accreditation, AMSL presented five year budgets which relied upon Ave Maria Foundation subsidies, but the application did not include specific and firm commitments by Thomas Monaghan or the Ave Maria Foundation to fund AMSL at least through the 2009-2010 academic year."
+ Problem - Sept. 10, 2004 + 5 years = September 10, 2009, which is within the 2009-2010 academic year. Are we to believe that the ABA would have granted AMSL full accreditation if it knew that Monaghan was not giving AMSL a "specific and firm commitment"?
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 45:
"Dobranski does not recall whether he told the ABA that there were no plans to move the Law School at the time AMSL was seeking full accreditation. If he did, it would have been a true statement at the time, since there were no such plans."
+ Problem - This is typical Dobranski lawyer-speak. Dobranski appears to think that his and the Board's "discussing its options" with "almost five years of discussions and research about the feasibility of relocating" does not constitute "plans" to move. This would be akin to me saying that I have no "plan" to move to Ann Arbor even though I've interviewed twice for a job at the University of Michigan, met with a real estate agent, applied for preliminary approval with a local mortgage provider, had house plans drawn by an architect, and completed (but had yet to submit) the forms to enroll my kids in Ann Arbor schools. If, in Dobranski's world, "plans" only means the period after a decision is made, one must revisit the same question that AveWatch asked immediately after the February 2007 announcement of AMSL's move to Monaghan's Florida development - How is it that Ave Maria was able to organize a media blitz in two states, a 48-hour home sale in Monaghan's development, and secure congratulations from the Governor of Florida without any business days after the vote? Within days after the announcement there were snazzy videos, beautiful brochures, and statements released from the likes of Robert Bork promoting Monaghan's real estate development and AMSL's move. No "plans"? Yeah, right.
The same brand of Clinton-esque speak was used in the "Answers" document to address the BoysCherries child pornography incident that AMSL invited upon itself. AveWatch thoroughly dissected Dobranski's weak response to that incident here (background; series).
The most disgusting part of "Answers" deals with the firing of tenure-track professors Lyons and Pucillo:
+ Butzel Answer, Paragraph 78:
".. Dobranski recalls advising plaintiffs Lyons and Pucillo, at the time they were told of their promotion to Associate Professor, that they were making satisfactory progress toward tenure."
When were they promoted? - Lyons in 2005 and Pucillo in 2006. Then, in 2007, AMSL dumped the professors in August, just prior to the semester's start, claiming (paragraph 81) that it was "based on their failure to meet their burden of establishing that they had met the requirements for tenure".
How in the world do faculty members promoted to Associate Professor by the Dean, who are told by the Dean himself that tenure progress is good less than one or two years earlier - and who are endorsed for tenure after review by the institution's Committee on Appointments and Tenure - how do such professors then get denied single-handedly by the Dean in the end?! It should also be remembered that Lyons and Pucillo were not scheduled for an internal appeal-hearing about these matters until after the lawsuit was filed.
In law schools, standard practice is to tell professors of a denied tenure application in February, not August as Dobranski did. A hearing is then typically scheduled within days so that the professors can know with certainty, before the end of the Spring semester, whether the coming year will be their last. In any other reputable institution, it would be the Dean who was terminated in a case like this for not providing adequate warning to professors in a timely fashion such that deficiencies could be corrected. It shows Dobranski as an amateurish Dean who is not beneath the destruction and manipulation of people to send a warning to others who might oppose him. The law school community and Catholic scholars should consider a sanction against Dobranski for such deplorable administration.
On Oct. 23, Deborah Gordon, the attorney for Safranek, Lyons, and Pucillo, filed a Notice of Taking Depositions from Tom Monaghan and Bernard Dobranski on Dec. 17 and 18, respectively. But, to avoid such action, lawyers from Monaghan make an astounding claim:
+ from Motion for Protective Order, Karl Fink, attorney for Monaghan, Nov. 27, 2007:
"... the factual basis for including AMF and Monaghan in this employment case is not readily apparent from the face of the Complaint, other than the obvious publicity bonus that Plaintiffs would like to achieve by sweeping them into the controversy."
So, are we to believe that Tom Monaghan's involvement in AMSL's governance (i.e. employment decisions) and finances - as the AMSL Chairman and principle financier who pulled the school to his for-profit south Florida real estate development - that his involvement in the lawsuit is just a publicity stunt? This is laughable to the point of pathetic. We eagerly look forward to Monaghan answering questions, under oath, about his management of all things Ave Maria, both non-profit and for-profit (including his dealings with the Baron Collier Company).
Dean: Faculty Hired "Very Good" Lawyer
Sat, Oct27, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
Earlier this year, AveWatch revealed the incredible
story
of how Dean Bernard Dobranski (Ave Maria School
of Law; AMSL) offered suggestions to Ave Maria
College (AMC) faculty on lawyers best qualified
to help them fight Tom Monaghan and his
abusive practices at AMC. Dr. Chris Beiting, a
former Dean at AMC said,
"I went to see Dean Dobranski in early 2004, and he proved to be most receptive. He lamented that there was little he could do about my and my wife's employment situation, nor the breaking of [AMC's] institutional promises. But he did suggest I contact a good labor lawyer, and quietly gave me the names of several of them."
In 2004, when Dobranski offered the advice, he may not have feared Tom Monaghan given the soft hand used with Dobranski up to that point. After that time, Monaghan started to exert strong financial coercion on Dobranski's Law School and, subsequently, force AMSL to uproot from success in Michigan to Monaghan's for-profit real estate development in south Florida. In recent years, Dobranski has not only offered Monaghan unquestioned acquiescence to his every whim, but also ruthless treatment to employees and alumni who dare call Monaghan to accountability. Such treatment lead to a lawsuit recently filed against Dobranski and Monaghan by three whistleblowing professors from AMSL.
Irony of ironies. Guess who was one of the "good labor lawyers" suggested by Dobranski to Dr. Beiting back in 2004... Deborah Gordon, the labor law powerhouse who recently filed the suit against Monaghan and Dobranski on behalf of the three AMSL professors. Earlier this week, Beiting told AveWatch:
"Deborah Gordon was one of the three lawyers suggested to me by Dobranksi when I complained to him about Ave Maria's treatment of my wife and I. Dobranski said she was a very good lawyer."
"I went to see Dean Dobranski in early 2004, and he proved to be most receptive. He lamented that there was little he could do about my and my wife's employment situation, nor the breaking of [AMC's] institutional promises. But he did suggest I contact a good labor lawyer, and quietly gave me the names of several of them."
In 2004, when Dobranski offered the advice, he may not have feared Tom Monaghan given the soft hand used with Dobranski up to that point. After that time, Monaghan started to exert strong financial coercion on Dobranski's Law School and, subsequently, force AMSL to uproot from success in Michigan to Monaghan's for-profit real estate development in south Florida. In recent years, Dobranski has not only offered Monaghan unquestioned acquiescence to his every whim, but also ruthless treatment to employees and alumni who dare call Monaghan to accountability. Such treatment lead to a lawsuit recently filed against Dobranski and Monaghan by three whistleblowing professors from AMSL.
Irony of ironies. Guess who was one of the "good labor lawyers" suggested by Dobranski to Dr. Beiting back in 2004... Deborah Gordon, the labor law powerhouse who recently filed the suit against Monaghan and Dobranski on behalf of the three AMSL professors. Earlier this week, Beiting told AveWatch:
"Deborah Gordon was one of the three lawyers suggested to me by Dobranksi when I complained to him about Ave Maria's treatment of my wife and I. Dobranski said she was a very good lawyer."
If Gordon made Dobranski's top three for labor lawyers, then he and Tom Monaghan will look awfully silly if they attempt to denigrate her background or integrity as a means to pull growing support for the professors (1,2,3) from fellow Catholics.
Ave Maria Law: Background for Suit
Mon, Oct22, 2007 - Category: School of
Law |
Foundation
[This is a follow-up to last week's news post
"Lawsuit
Filed Against Monaghan/AMSL". Start there.]
Naples Daily News (Florida) excerpt from article last week:
"The heart of the suit, Gordon said, is Monaghan’s involvement in multiple organizations including those in which he has a financial stake. That involvement violates the law school board’s independence from Monaghan’s “tentacles.”
“We think we can prove the illegal acts by showing the connections between Monaghan, the board and his other organizations,” she said. Gordon said she planned to depose Monaghan, Dobranski and various past and present members of the school’s board, which currently includes high-ranking Catholic Church officials such as, Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York and Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop of Detroit."
Finally.
This is the itch that AveWatch has been scratching for over a year, and the big story that nobody in the main stream media will mention. Ample evidence demonstrates that, for years, Tom Monaghan has coercively used the Ave Maria Foundation to improperly create and run other non-profit and for-profit ventures that are managed centrally on Monaghan's whim rather than as independent autonomous entities. Through financial coercion, he forces the recipients of his "philanthropy" to put duty to Himself above fiduciary duties to the organization. Tom Monaghan's good supersedes all other duties in these organizations. Monaghan's person, his Foundation, and his for-profit Florida businesses - including his mega-development Ave Maria Town - have benefited at the expense of Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law, Ave Maria College, and their respective alumni, employees, donors, and students.
For a wide-angle view of such evidence, start at AveWatch's "Must Read" and Quotes pages. Individual stories are also categorized by "topic" (i.e. "School of Law") or by "tags" found in the right menu bar's bottom (i.e. "conflict-of-interest").
For a more focused view of the issues specifically mentioned in the Law School suit filed yesterday, consider the following:
Treatment of professors Safranek, Lyons, Pucillo
+ background here; details & developments in series "Dean Runs Amok"
AMSL's help given to a local priest investigated for child pornography, hidden from police
+ background here; details & developments in series "BoysCherries"
Tom Monaghan benefits significantly in ventures unrelated to the Law School by forcing the institution to move to his south Florida real estate development, Ave Maria Town, or face closure.
+ Monaghan personally owns a large section of the Town's prime real estate.
+ Monaghan and his AMSL CFO Paul Roney will benefit significantly by the Law School's move to Florida through the twosome's quiet private for-profit business (Nua Baile), hidden as a partner in Ave Maria Development, the lone real estate business that controls Ave Maria Town.
+ Monaghan is a partner in businesses hand-picked to benefit from Ave Maria Town's growth - from road and home construction materials to condo sales.
+ Monaghan helped start a bank specifically designed to benefit from Ave Maria Town growth (see also)
Ave Maria School of Law may, by design, have no long-term financial plan apart from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation.
+ Former AMU CFO Speaks : shocking testimony under oath
+ Falvey: Monaghan $ Destabilizes AMSL
+ Dobranski Credibility Bottoms
+ AMSL Financial Stability Questioned
Ave Maria has engaged in questionable financial dealings.
+ Ave Maria Helps Democrat Financier
+ Fr. Fessio's Bank Account
+ AMSL Study Forgets Michigan Tax-payer
+ AMSL Balance Rises on AMF Loan
+ Nicaragua's Financial Aid Irregularities
+ AMU Accreditor Still Fumbling
Tom Monaghan populates his Ave Maria boards with individuals beholden to him.
+ Follow the Money, Find Board Members
+ Catholic Education's Version of The Borg
+ AMSL Board Reels With Change
+ Accreditation, Boards, and Conflicts
+ Healy: The Decision Was Monaghan's
+ Call the Media, *Then* Vote: this is an important story to show how grandiose plans to announce the Law School's Florida move were initiated long before the School's Board deliberated and voted on the move
+ Burtchaell: "Obvious Impropriety"
Ave Maria administrators use a culture of intimidation to maintain Monaghan's control.
+ AMSL Intimidates Honor Student
+ Monaghan Security Watches Professor / Town
+ Woman Kneels Before Monaghan
+ Fabricating an Air of Sexual Harassment; Intimidation and Uninvited Touching?
+ Dean Retaliates Against Whistleblower
+ Ave Prof Complains to DOE / Embassy (also Ave Prof Gets Partial Restitution)
+ Dean Takes Marbles Home w/Alums
+ Admin Thugs Whack Student Critic
+ Admins: School is "Failed Experiment"
+ Monaghan Preps for Supreme Court
+ Fessio Fired
+ AMU Students "Beg" to Leave
+ AMU's "Climate of Fear"
+ AMSL Railroads/Misrepresents Alumni
+ Catholic Social Teaching
+ Faculty Coerced
+ Rice Dismissed
hat-tip: ThePolitic.com
Naples Daily News (Florida) excerpt from article last week:
"The heart of the suit, Gordon said, is Monaghan’s involvement in multiple organizations including those in which he has a financial stake. That involvement violates the law school board’s independence from Monaghan’s “tentacles.”
“We think we can prove the illegal acts by showing the connections between Monaghan, the board and his other organizations,” she said. Gordon said she planned to depose Monaghan, Dobranski and various past and present members of the school’s board, which currently includes high-ranking Catholic Church officials such as, Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop of New York and Cardinal Adam Maida, the archbishop of Detroit."
Finally.
This is the itch that AveWatch has been scratching for over a year, and the big story that nobody in the main stream media will mention. Ample evidence demonstrates that, for years, Tom Monaghan has coercively used the Ave Maria Foundation to improperly create and run other non-profit and for-profit ventures that are managed centrally on Monaghan's whim rather than as independent autonomous entities. Through financial coercion, he forces the recipients of his "philanthropy" to put duty to Himself above fiduciary duties to the organization. Tom Monaghan's good supersedes all other duties in these organizations. Monaghan's person, his Foundation, and his for-profit Florida businesses - including his mega-development Ave Maria Town - have benefited at the expense of Michigan's Ave Maria School of Law, Ave Maria College, and their respective alumni, employees, donors, and students.
For a wide-angle view of such evidence, start at AveWatch's "Must Read" and Quotes pages. Individual stories are also categorized by "topic" (i.e. "School of Law") or by "tags" found in the right menu bar's bottom (i.e. "conflict-of-interest").
For a more focused view of the issues specifically mentioned in the Law School suit filed yesterday, consider the following:
Treatment of professors Safranek, Lyons, Pucillo
+ background here; details & developments in series "Dean Runs Amok"
AMSL's help given to a local priest investigated for child pornography, hidden from police
+ background here; details & developments in series "BoysCherries"
Tom Monaghan benefits significantly in ventures unrelated to the Law School by forcing the institution to move to his south Florida real estate development, Ave Maria Town, or face closure.
+ Monaghan personally owns a large section of the Town's prime real estate.
+ Monaghan and his AMSL CFO Paul Roney will benefit significantly by the Law School's move to Florida through the twosome's quiet private for-profit business (Nua Baile), hidden as a partner in Ave Maria Development, the lone real estate business that controls Ave Maria Town.
+ Monaghan is a partner in businesses hand-picked to benefit from Ave Maria Town's growth - from road and home construction materials to condo sales.
+ Monaghan helped start a bank specifically designed to benefit from Ave Maria Town growth (see also)
Ave Maria School of Law may, by design, have no long-term financial plan apart from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria Foundation.
+ Former AMU CFO Speaks : shocking testimony under oath
+ Falvey: Monaghan $ Destabilizes AMSL
+ Dobranski Credibility Bottoms
+ AMSL Financial Stability Questioned
Ave Maria has engaged in questionable financial dealings.
+ Ave Maria Helps Democrat Financier
+ Fr. Fessio's Bank Account
+ AMSL Study Forgets Michigan Tax-payer
+ AMSL Balance Rises on AMF Loan
+ Nicaragua's Financial Aid Irregularities
+ AMU Accreditor Still Fumbling
Tom Monaghan populates his Ave Maria boards with individuals beholden to him.
+ Follow the Money, Find Board Members
+ Catholic Education's Version of The Borg
+ AMSL Board Reels With Change
+ Accreditation, Boards, and Conflicts
+ Healy: The Decision Was Monaghan's
+ Call the Media, *Then* Vote: this is an important story to show how grandiose plans to announce the Law School's Florida move were initiated long before the School's Board deliberated and voted on the move
+ Burtchaell: "Obvious Impropriety"
Ave Maria administrators use a culture of intimidation to maintain Monaghan's control.
+ AMSL Intimidates Honor Student
+ Monaghan Security Watches Professor / Town
+ Woman Kneels Before Monaghan
+ Fabricating an Air of Sexual Harassment; Intimidation and Uninvited Touching?
+ Dean Retaliates Against Whistleblower
+ Ave Prof Complains to DOE / Embassy (also Ave Prof Gets Partial Restitution)
+ Dean Takes Marbles Home w/Alums
+ Admin Thugs Whack Student Critic
+ Admins: School is "Failed Experiment"
+ Monaghan Preps for Supreme Court
+ Fessio Fired
+ AMU Students "Beg" to Leave
+ AMU's "Climate of Fear"
+ AMSL Railroads/Misrepresents Alumni
+ Catholic Social Teaching
+ Faculty Coerced
+ Rice Dismissed
hat-tip: ThePolitic.com
Lawsuit Filed Against Monaghan/AMSL
Thu, Oct18, 2007 - Category: School of
Law
At 10:20am today, Sarah Prescott from The Law Offices of Deborah L.
Gordon announced that "the firm of Deborah
Gordon PLC filed suit against Monaghan, Ave
Maria School of Law and others yesterday in
Washtenaw County Circuit Court".
A PDF copy of the complaint is here. The complaint was filed by former AMSL professors Steve Safranek, Ed Lyons, and Phil Pucillo against Tom Monaghan, Dean Bernard Dobranski, AMSL, and (most interestingly) the Ave Maria Foundation. The complaints involve (summarized):
1) wrongful discharge violating Whistleblower's Protection Act
2) wrongful termination violating WPA
3) tortious interference
4) breach of contract
Relief is also being sought through "an injunction out of this Court prohibiting any further acts of wrongdoing".
Statement from Deborah Gordon:
Three professors from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria School of Law filed a multi-part complaint against Thomas Monaghan, Bernard Dobranski and associated entities in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Oct. 17. Monaghan serves as Chair of the Board of Governors and Dobranski is the President and Dean.
The three professors claim that they were removed from their positions in retaliation for their having reported illegal conduct by Monaghan and Dobranski to law enforcement and other governmental agencies, and for refusing to go along with Monaghan's attempts to improperly control the Board by permitting his private, conflicting interests to supersede the best interests of the law school, including his attempt to re-locate the school from Ann Arbor to property Monaghan owns and desires to develop in "Ave Maria Town" Florida. Monaghan has claimed that the Virgin Mary personally directed him to develop Ave Maria Town and Ave Maria University in Southwest Florida.
A faculty vote against the planned move in September 2006 and a vote of "no confidence" in Dean Dobranski in April 2006 have not deterred the illegal, improper activity.
Two of these professors were denied tenure by Dobranski even though they received the unanimous support of the tenured faculty. Tenured Professor Safranek was ejected from the building and his salary and benefits terminated. Dobranski and Monaghan did not even grant him a hearing. The suit alleges Professor Safranek has been subjected to false smears as part of the retaliation effort.
The suit also alleges that certain staff used their positions and law school resources to obstruct a criminal investigation into a priest'Äôs alleged involvement in sex offenses, including possession of child pornography, and that Professor Safranek reported this to law enforcement.
This lawsuit is the latest debacle in the collapse of Ave Maria School of Law. This past summer nearly 1/2 of the faculty fled or were removed from the school. Approximately 40 first year students transferred to other law schools (out of a class of 135), and the quality of the incoming class continued to decline. Dobranski was forced to hire a slew visitation professors and adjuncts to keep the school afloat.
Linked by:
+ Fumare: commentary | Dobranski note to AMSL
+ Wall Street Journal law blog
+ Brian Leiter's Law School Reports
+ Mirror of Justice
+ The Blue Boar blog
+ Bonita News (Florida)
+ Fox News Detroit (video)
Oct 19:
+ The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription)
A PDF copy of the complaint is here. The complaint was filed by former AMSL professors Steve Safranek, Ed Lyons, and Phil Pucillo against Tom Monaghan, Dean Bernard Dobranski, AMSL, and (most interestingly) the Ave Maria Foundation. The complaints involve (summarized):
1) wrongful discharge violating Whistleblower's Protection Act
2) wrongful termination violating WPA
3) tortious interference
4) breach of contract
Relief is also being sought through "an injunction out of this Court prohibiting any further acts of wrongdoing".
Statement from Deborah Gordon:
Three professors from Tom Monaghan's Ave Maria School of Law filed a multi-part complaint against Thomas Monaghan, Bernard Dobranski and associated entities in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Oct. 17. Monaghan serves as Chair of the Board of Governors and Dobranski is the President and Dean.
The three professors claim that they were removed from their positions in retaliation for their having reported illegal conduct by Monaghan and Dobranski to law enforcement and other governmental agencies, and for refusing to go along with Monaghan's attempts to improperly control the Board by permitting his private, conflicting interests to supersede the best interests of the law school, including his attempt to re-locate the school from Ann Arbor to property Monaghan owns and desires to develop in "Ave Maria Town" Florida. Monaghan has claimed that the Virgin Mary personally directed him to develop Ave Maria Town and Ave Maria University in Southwest Florida.
A faculty vote against the planned move in September 2006 and a vote of "no confidence" in Dean Dobranski in April 2006 have not deterred the illegal, improper activity.
Two of these professors were denied tenure by Dobranski even though they received the unanimous support of the tenured faculty. Tenured Professor Safranek was ejected from the building and his salary and benefits terminated. Dobranski and Monaghan did not even grant him a hearing. The suit alleges Professor Safranek has been subjected to false smears as part of the retaliation effort.
The suit also alleges that certain staff used their positions and law school resources to obstruct a criminal investigation into a priest'Äôs alleged involvement in sex offenses, including possession of child pornography, and that Professor Safranek reported this to law enforcement.
This lawsuit is the latest debacle in the collapse of Ave Maria School of Law. This past summer nearly 1/2 of the faculty fled or were removed from the school. Approximately 40 first year students transferred to other law schools (out of a class of 135), and the quality of the incoming class continued to decline. Dobranski was forced to hire a slew visitation professors and adjuncts to keep the school afloat.
Linked by:
+ Fumare: commentary | Dobranski note to AMSL
+ Wall Street Journal law blog
+ Brian Leiter's Law School Reports
+ Mirror of Justice
+ The Blue Boar blog
+ Bonita News (Florida)
+ Fox News Detroit (video)
Oct 19:
+ The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription)