Jury finds in favor of UNM in $1.5 m lawsuit

UNM professor Sharon Warner lost her $1.5 million breach of contract lawsuit against the University on Monday.

In Warner v. University of New Mexico the jury ruled in favor of UNM at the First Judicial District State Court, according to the court.

Warner filed a complaint in September 2009, following what her lawyer called a mishandled whistle blowing complaint Warner made about potential sexual harassment within her department.

Warner stepped down from her chairship following the complaint.

Her husband, Teddy Warner, a professor at UNM Health Sciences Center, filed a lawsuit in 2009 claiming the University cut his pay by 20 percent because of spousal affiliated retaliation. That case has yet to go to court.

Warner filed an Office of Equal Opportunity complaint after she received an anonymous letter about UNM creative writing professor Lisa D. Chávez, which claimed Chávez was sexually harassing students.

The authors claimed to be parents of a UNM student and the letter included pictures of Chávez posing as a “dominatrix professor” and disciplining “misbehaving students,” according to the lawsuit.

In 2008, Chávez was discovered to be an operator at local phone-sex company People Exchanging Power. She worked under the name “Mistress Jade.” According to the People Exchanging Power website, Mistress Jade could act as “a biker bitch, an imperious goddess or a stern teacher ready to punish unruly students.” In one photo, she posed with then-graduate student Liz Derrington.

Warner said she still believes pursuing the case was the right thing to do.

“I did what I thought was right,” she said. “I still think it was right. I don’t know how I could have done anything differently, and I really feel I did what I thought I could do on behalf of the students, the department, myself and the program. I am very disappointed that it turned out this way. I’m not the kind of person who can look the other way and that was what I was asked to do and I couldn’t.”

Warner will be required to pay the legal fees of both parties.

In an email, Chávez, who continues to teach at UNM, said the issue should have been resolved years ago.

“I do feel that justice was served, and I hope that the door is closed on all of this, as it should have been five years ago,” she said.

UNM Spokeswoman Cinnamon Blair said the University has no ill will toward Warner.

“We are pleased with the result, and we are glad to put this behind us and we wish Dr. Warner the best,” she said.

Warner’s attorney Arnold Padilla said he was surprised he lost the case.

“I have no clue how (we lost), honestly,” he said. “I have never had a case where I misread result and the effect of the case this much. I thought it went very well and evidence was very compelling, but how compelling can a case be if you lost?”

Padilla said about six faculty members and four students testified on behalf of Warner, citing discrimination from the University.

Witness Carrie Cutler said she felt the trial was restricted to a narrow range of topics that didn’t show the jury the whole story.
“I felt the judge only allowed witnesses to testify on a very narrow range of topics, mainly the administration’s actions and nothing that Chávez did,” she said. “Chávez accused me of sleeping with her and that wasn’t even discussed. I was only on stand for about 10 minutes.”

Cutler said the trial sets a precedent for UNM to underreport and overlook sexual harassment.

“The University isn’t going to change its policies in terms of reporting sexual harassment and getting (the proper resources to students) and I think the jury didn’t see what occurred,” she said.

Padilla said the case was fairly run by District Judge Sarah Singleton.

“I thought that this judge was just excellent and understood the issues very well and she limited certain witnesses, but she did so for both sides,” he said. “I have nothing at all critical to say about the judge of the case.”