A lawsuit filed against Stanford Law School that claimed a professor blacklisted a student at law firms in San Francisco Bay Area has been dismissed by a California appeals court. The lawsuit was claiming retaliation and defamation against a law professor. The panel of judges for the Sixth District Court of Appeals confirmed the ruling that there was not enough evidence submitted in the case for Usha Viswanathan. The opinion was ruled on August 24.
“Clearly plaintiff has experienced considerable emotional and professional challenges since her graduation from Stanford Law School in 1994,” the court wrote, according to a Law.com story. “Nevertheless, defendants established that because plaintiff would not be able to prove the elements of her defamation and related claims, they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
Viswanathan said during an interview with Law.com that she is going to petition for a rehearing. “I presented strong circumstantial evidence that the court ignored. This case should have been resolved a long time ago, but the court has been very reluctant to find Stanford liable for any wrongdoing.”
Stanford Law School released the following statement about the court’s ruling, saying it is “pleased that the Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court that there was no evidence to support any of Ms. Viswanathan’s claims against Stanford.” The professor named in the lawsuit was Robert Weisberg.