WACO (WBAP/KLIF News) – Ten women who allege that they were sexually assaulted while at Baylor University will have their day in court.
U.S District Judge Robert Pitman ruled Tuesday that the plaintiffs, who are a part of the largest Title IX lawsuit against school, can pursue their claims that university officials created a heightened risk of sexual assault by the way they responded to the reports.
They have until the Spring of 2018 to sue and some cases that go as far back as 2004 can now be heard in court.
Pitman’s ruling means that both sides will now be able to interview witnesses and request evidence to argue their cases.
While the judge allowed these cases to move forward, there were some stipulations. Pitman barred four of the ten plaintiff’s claims because of statute of limitations violations.
Baylor issued a statement about the ruling on it’s website.
“Baylor University is encouraged by today’s ruling. The Court’s decision was based entirely on the plaintiffs’ pleadings and assumed that every claim they presented was accurate. The Court summarily rejected every claim under state law as well as dismissed some of the Title IX allegations related to four of the plaintiffs.
Baylor intends to continue to defend itself against those allegations that have not yet been dismissed. We will now have the opportunity to conduct discovery and ultimately present evidence on those remaining counts.
As we have stressed throughout, our hearts go out to all victims of sexual assault at Baylor. We deeply regret the pain they experienced and continue to pray for their healing.”
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