A year-and-a-half after a federal jury found Baylor University negligent in a Title IX lawsuit filed by a former student who was physically assaulted by a football player, a judge has ordered the school to pay her more than $400,000 in attorneys fees.
Baylor graduate Dolores Lozano filed a lawsuit in Oct. 2016 claiming the school’s admitted campus-wide failures in addressing sexual violence put her at risk for assault. It also alleged several university employees did not adequately respond to her reports that then-football player Devin Chafin physically assaulted her three times in the spring of 2014. Chafin denied the accusations in a video deposition.
RELATED: Jury Finds Baylor University Negligent in Former Student’s Title IX Lawsuit
In the civil trial, eight jurors sided with Lozano, determining Baylor was negligent because it “maintained a policy of deliberate indifference to reports of sexual harassment” that put her at risk and did not take sufficient measures to prevent the series of assaults. The jury awarded Lozano no monetary damages for the Title IX violation but gave her $40,000 for past physical pain and mental anguish, $190,000 for future physical pain and mental anguish, and $40,000 for future health care expenses.
Lozano’s three attorneys and a paralegal later sought $875,835 in fees, with attorney Irwin Zalkin proposing an hourly billing rate of $800 and attorneys Sheila Haddock and Zeke Fortenberry seeking $650 an hour, MSN reports. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said the attorneys’ request was “excessive” because Lozano was only partially successful in proving her claims. He ultimately ordered Baylor to pay $437,917 in attorneys’ fees.
Baylor University Has Longstanding History of Title IX, Clery Act Violations
The Oct. 2023 verdict in Lozano’s lawsuit occurred just over a month after Baylor settled another lawsuit filed by 15 women who alleged they were sexually assaulted while at the school. The 2016 lawsuit was part of a years-long investigation by the U.S. Department of Education into the school’s compliance with the Clery Act. In March 2017, the department announced it was opening an investigation into the school’s crime reporting process following reports of sexual assaults on campus being higher than the numbers Baylor had officially reported. The school was fined $460,000 in 2020.
The investigation was launched after the Board of Regents released a 13-page summary following its own months-long investigation into reports of widespread sexual assault by athletes on the Baylor football team dating back to at least 2011.
RELATED: Baylor Settles Lawsuit with Former Student Alleging Gang-Rape by Football Players
Between 2011 and 2014, student lawsuits claimed 31 athletes committed 52 rapes. As a result, the school fired head football coach Art Biles, Director of Football Operations Colin Shillinglaw, and athletic director Tom Hill, who oversaw seven sports over his 28-year career at Baylor.
Former Baylor President Ken Starr was also removed in 2016 after the board of regents determined he failed to review the actions of employees who handled rape allegations against former BU football players. Former Baylor athletic director McCaw resigned four days after Briles and Starr were dismissed. He was then hired by Liberty University, which has also been found guilty of Clery and Title IX violations in recent years.
Two Baylor defensive ends have also been found guilty of sexual assault.
