Law.com, USC Denies Law Professor’s Allegations of Mishandling Discrimination, Harassment Claims:

A separation and divorce between two USC Law professors led one to file suit against the university, alleging it did not protect her from a hostile work environment she claims was perpetrated by her ex-husband.

The University of Southern California is denying accusations that it improperly handled investigations over alleged discrimination and harassment between two faculty members at USC’s Gould School of Law.

Plaintiff Camille Gear Rich, who has been a professor at USC Law since 2007, alleged in a complaint filed in the U.S. District for the Central District of California’s Western Division that the university failed to properly handle claims of harassment and discrimination against her ex-husband and fellow faculty member Stephen Rich. …

According to the complaint, Camille Rich filed for divorce from Stephen Rich in 2015, which then allegedly prompted him to exhibit “threatening and erratic behavior” toward her and start a “defamation campaign” to other faculty members about the dissolution of their marriage. …

Neither Stephen Rich nor Deanna Rafla-Yuan, the former student with whom he had an alleged relationship, is a named defendant in the lawsuit.

However, Rafla-Yuan, who is now an associate at Theodora Oringher, in a statement denied the allegations that she was in a relationship with Stephen Rich while she was a student.

“Although we are not parties, the complaint filed in federal court contains numerous untrue statements about me and about my relationship with my husband,” according to a statement from Rafla-Yuan to Law.com. “The truth is that my romantic relationship with Stephen began after I transferred from USC law school to attend law school at a different university in 2017.” The pair married in 2019.

Camille Rich’s complaint further claims she was denied accommodations requested due to PTSD from alleged harassment, such as a smaller class size limited to 50 people, and was instead given a roughly 100-person class. The large class size allegedly forced Camille Rich to take disability leave in January 2023, according to the complaint. When she returned from leave, the suit claims that she continued to be subjected to “harsh and unfair treatment.”

In its court-filed response on Nov. 14, USC denied that her request for a smaller class size was ignored and that the university perpetuated unfair treatment.

USC Annenberg Media, USC Law Professor Sues University for Mishandling Title IX Complaint:

USC hired Camille Rich as a tenured track professor in the law school in 2007 and hired Stephen Rich as a “trailing spouse.”

The couple divorced in 2019, four years after separating. Camille Rich’s Title IX complaints were filed while the divorce proceedings were ongoing. In her lawsuit, Camille Rich claimed that during this period, Stephen Rich attempted to defame her to her colleagues and “painted himself the tormented victim in the situation with the intent of incentivising his colleagues to pressure Professor Rich into returning to her marriage.”

Despite this, Camille Rich claimed that no faculty members reported his behavior.

Camille Rich alleged that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from years of dealing with a hostile work environment, which she said worsened when she learned that Stephen Rich had an ongoing affair with a student, with whom he fathered children.

According to the lawsuit, Stephen Rich later married the student, and the couple had twins in March 2020.

USC Policies and Policy Governance explicitly prohibit faculty from having any intimate, romantic, or sexual relationships, even if consensual, with any student they teach, train, supervise or evaluate. Such relationships are “strongly discouraged” even when no supervisory relationship exists, according to USC’s “Prohibited Relationships With Students” policy.

ABA Journal, What Happens When 2 USC Gould Law Professors Divorce? The University Gets Sued:

“The lawsuit has no legal merit,” according to a university statement emailed to the ABA Journal. “We look forward to defending the university’s position in court.”

Stephen Rich and his new wife Deanna Rafla-Yuan are not parties to the lawsuit. “The complaint filed in federal court contains numerous untrue statements about me and about my relationship with my husband of over six years,” Rafla-Yuan wrote to the ABA Journal. “The truth is that my romantic relationship with Stephen began after I left USC Law School.”

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