A student at the University of California, San Diego, is suing her school for failing to stop her from protesting President Donald Trump’s election. The university’s actions caused her to be hit by a car on a busy interstate, she alleges.
Mariana Flores, a UCSD sophomore, was participating in a campuswide Trump protest on election night 2016 when she was hit by a car on Interstate Highway 5 in San Diego.
The collision shattered her pelvis, fractured her leg and caused many other severe injuries, according to The Guardian, UCSD’s school newspaper.
In response, Flores filed a personal injury and property damage lawsuit on the one-year anniversary of her injuries. The lawsuit names UC-San Diego, the UC Board of Regents, the city and county of San Diego, the driver of the vehicle and the state of California as defendants.
Flores argues the university is at least partly responsible for injuries because they failed to stop the protest after it became dangerous and spilled onto the interstate.
In an interview with The Guardian, Gene Sullivan, Flores’ attorney, revealed the motive behind the suit: that Flores will have millions worth of medical bills in the future and hopes the university will help foot the bill.
Sullivan explained that if any employee of the university, including a residential adviser, encourages students to protest, the school could legally bear responsibility for Flores’ injuries. In addition, he explained that because the university knew about the protest and did nothing for hours, that is the legal equivalent to endorsing it.
"We think it’s a case of shared responsibility of the school, Maria and the driver, and we’re not saying that anybody is without fault or fault-free. We think other people bear some responsibility as well,” Sullivan told the Los Angeles Times.
Sullivan told the Guardian that under the tort doctrine of “comparative responsibility” a jury will decide whether each defendant is liable for Flores’ injuries and what amount of damages they owe if they are.
According to the LA Times, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages in addition to attorneys' fees and court costs.
(H/T: The College Fix)
