Sex assault suit against Pacific, former librarian can proceed

Attorneys representing the University of the Pacific and now-retired research librarian Craig Hawbaker have been denied a request seeking to dismiss a case of alleged sexual misconduct against Hawbaker when he was employed by the college.

Amit Lal, a doctoral candidate at the college, filed a $4 million lawsuit against Hawbaker and the school in January of 2019, claiming he was sexually abused by the librarian and alleging a two-year delay by the university to open an investigation into Lal’s claims.

Last Friday, Stockton Superior Court Judge Michael Mulvihill denied the request for dismissal after Lal’s Lodi-based attorney Kevin Berreth claimed during discovery that the university “has records showing the school was aware and had documented Hawbaker’s sexual misconduct before Lal’s student-employment at the Stockton campus.”

According to a 17-page complaint filed by Berreth, Lal informed the university of his allegations against Hawbaker in 2015, but Pacific did not conduct an investigation until 2017. Lal finally received a report on the investigation in June 2018, the lawsuit says.

The suit alleges Lal was a victim of “sexual harassment, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress” at the hands of Hawbaker from 2013 to May 2014, when Hawbaker retired.

At the time of the alleged assault, Lal worked as a library staffer, providing technical support for faculty, students and staff.

Due to the requirements of Lal’s position in the IT department, he frequently came into contact with and worked in close proximity to Hawbaker, often when others were not present and late into the night or early morning shifts, according to a complaint filed by Kevin Berreth.

The complaint also alleges Hawbaker threatened to revoke Amit’s student worker pay and scholarship if he did not agree to have sex with the professor and that Hawbaker also made threats to Lal to discourage him from reporting the conduct to school officials.

According to the suit, “Hawbaker used his status as a supervising employee and faculty member, as well as his knowledge of Amit’s challenged financial status and reliance upon Pacific’s library job and scholarship, to coerce Amit into tolerating his harassing behavior and multiple assaults with the threat of losing his job at Pacific and threatening his enrollment as a student.”

During discovery proceedings, Berreth learned that the university had records of Hawbaker posting ads for sex on Craigslist, and that Hawbaker was caught watching pornography on school computers, made sexually suggestive comments to other Pacific employees about students, and that he admitted to paying people for sex in his campus office.

Berreth also found records that show another student at the Stockton campus reported unwanted sexual advances from the former professor prior to Lal working under Hawbaker.

“We have given the University of the Pacific every opportunity to take responsibility for their instructor that would assist covering our client’s severe and permanent mental and emotional damages, but they have refused,” Berreth said in a statement. “Pacific continues to assert that there was no wrongdoing on their part. In fact, the University has never disputed the atrocities that Amit endured, only that they were not responsible for what happened.”

According to the findings in the university investigation following Lal’s compliant, it was determined that Hawbaker “admitted to three of the claimed unwanted acts.”

The report also concluded that “it is more likely than not that Professor Hawbaker did engage in additional unwanted touching and/or advances beyond those he admitted.”

“University of the Pacific takes allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously,” Keith Michaud, a spokesperson for the university, told the News-Sentinel on Tuesday. “Pacific does not comment on litigation out of respect for the privacy and due process rights of the parties involved, and to protect the integrity of the legal process.”

Michaud said that faculty and staff members — with the exception of therapists and student victim advocates — are required by law to report any allegations of misconduct brought forward by students.

“When egregious harms are committed against its students, and the University should have foreseen the harm based on their own records, the least one would expect is a sincere apology and monetary compensation for a lifetime of mental health damages,” Berreth sad. “But the University will not even do that.”

A trial date has not been set in the case. Michaud sad resources and support for members of the Pacific community are available at bit.ly/2VGV5Zf.