I wanted to provide a bit of an update and clarification on the Georgia case Valena blogged about a few days ago, a student who had filed a civil claim against a fellow student at Mercer University. We followed up with the plaintiff’s law firm because we wanted to confirm that the trial judge had really said that a woman’s civil suit for compensation for a sexual assault (civil battery, technically) was invalid in part because she was not a virgin. And, indeed, he did.

It’s absolutely unbelievable that the Appeals Court affirmed (without even issuing an opinion), since the questions at stake were huge: Do Georgia’s laws protecting rape victims from questions designed to humiliate them and to perpetuate the myth that a woman’s prior sexual history is relevant to her rape apply to civil cases? Can a judge use a statement the plaintiff denies ever making as grounds not to allow her case to go to trial? Does the fact that the university police did not pursue her case criminally mean that she cannot pursue civil remedy? (Particularly ridiculous, since civil remedies are usually only pursued if the victim feels that her attempts to get criminal justice were unfairly denied. And let’s not go into the fact that the defendant’s grandmother is a trustee of Mercer University and the campus is named for his grandfather. Really? They didn’t pursue charges? I’m so surprised.) Should the plaintiff have to pay all of the defendant’s attorney’s fees, without any evidence as to how those fees were calculated and even though even the judge says that her pursuit of the case through the discovery phase was reasonable (and therefore one would presume she cannot be responsible for those expenses)? Does the fact that he says it was consensual and she has absolutely no memories of the evening (drugged?) mean that of course it must have been consensual?

My heart goes out to this woman. I don’t know what her future options are, but I hope that she finds some justice somewhere. I am terrified for other women in the state of Georgia – this was not a good decision in any way and it sets a dangerous and discouraging precedent. Also, this is not the first sexual assault case Mercer University has been involved in – they successfully fought to keep their police files about reported sexual assaults private. Very scary. I’d ask some serious questions before I considered going there.