2, The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012
LAWSUIT:
Martinez v. Darris
Continued from Page 1
According to the lawsuit, filed Oct.
11 in Clackamas County Circuit Court,
it all started in 2009 when Martinez
and Darris were part o f the faculty bar
gaining team for CCC. In December,
! Dean Darris was not present at the
bargaining team meeting. The suits states
that Martinez was overheard talking
about her lack o f confidence in Darris
to “refrain from speaking out during
the negotiations.” T hat information was
then relayed to Darris himself, and at the
next bargaining meeting Darris request
ed to talk about Martinez’s comment.
Martinez did not want to go into further
detail since it was her personal opinion.
• Darris has had a colorful past , with
the college. He reported the college for
violating the election laws for the May
bond election. H e also had a physical
confrontation with a student in February
o f 2008.
From January 2010 Martinez claims
that both Darrises began making oral
and written false and defamatory accusa
tions against her.
According to the lawsuit, the Darrises
made Martinez’s personal opinions
public, “casting them fin a false light
intended to portray her statements as
malicious, false and defamatory attacks
on Darris personally and professionally.”
T he suit states that the Darrises
sent emails to people claiming that
Martinez had made a violent, vicious,
and malicious attack on Darris defaming
his personal character and professional
reputation and intentionally causing him
iiaaft(M¿ iBnal«<suw6-»and d«r«w ij- They-«doe
claim that Martinez “conducted a smear
campaign against Marshall Dean Darris
in her capacity as a counselor by telling
students that Darris was unprofessional,
homophobic, a bigot and a pedophile
seducing his young female students.”
Emails then followed from Tara
Darris .to faculty, administration, stu
dents and then republished to the school
and the community. The emails claimed
that since Martinez is a Mexican-
American US citizen, she has “gotten
by as a diversity hire her entire life,” she
has been playing the victim card as an
“oppressed” Latino woman, “that just
because she uses a fake accent when she
says ‘Latino’ does not make her ethnic”
T he lawsuit continues to say that “die is
a psychopath and incapable o f shame;
that many working class students have
been defrauded by being advised to take
her ‘stupid’ classes; that she is a pseudo
intellectual Latino, and that she is a liar.”
Martínez also claims that Dean Darris
enlisted fellow faculty members, stu
dents in his classes and veterans that he
counseled asking them to support him
by speaking in his favor, and by sending
emails, and letters to faculty, administra
tors, students and Martinez.
It Continúes to say that they knew that
Martinez would be subjected to severe
emotional distress or that such distress
was substantially certain to result from
their conduct. Martinez continues to
claim that they were successful by dam
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News
College gets a lump of Cole
By Nora Goodman
The C lackam as P rin t
aging her reputation. She states that she
suffered severe physical and emotional
distress including loss o f hair, humilia
tion, stress, depression, unproductivity
at work and fear o f people w ho could
be incited to violence by the defendants’
“false and misleading statements about
her.”
W hen asked about the lawsuit
Martinez stated to contact her lawyer
Tm d that she was advised to not talk
about it.
W hen her lawyer, Tait, was con
tacted, he would not send over the
evidence o f emails.
“This is pending litigation and I don’t
feel comfortable to talk to anybody at
this stage,” he said. “There has been
enough damage by what things that
have been published about this matter
already.”
T he idea o f transferring transcripts from
one college to another is often simple but
in the case o f Brandon Earl Cole, a former
student at Clackamas Community College,
this was not a simple transaction. Cole filed
a lawsuit against C C C on D ec 29 in the
amount o f $10,000 at Clackamas County
Circuit Court in Oregon City. Cole’s claim
is that C C C willingly violated the col
lege academic policy by not transferring
his “C ” average or better grades to Portland
Community College.
According to Kandie Starr, an enroll
ment services specialist with the admissions
and records department at CCC, there is
a simple process. The process is done by
mail and usually takes 72 business hours
from the date the request was received. The
transcript may be delayed if the students
transcript is incomplete or there is a “hold”
on the amount due to unm et obligations
such as outstanding balance owing, fines or
lost books to the college. Otherwise college
courses usually transfer easily.
College courses usually transfer as one
o f three types o f credits: elective credits,
general education credits or major field o f
study credits. W hen a student is ready to
have their classes and credits transferred to
a four year school or a different community
college, he needs to request an official tran
script to be sent to the college or university
they will be attending.
Courtney Wilton, vice president o f col
lege services is confused about the case.
“We simply don’t understand the reason
for Brandon’s small claims action. I’ve called
him twice. Each time I spoke to him directly
and each time he promised to call me ■
back He never did. T he college has denied
his claim and requested a hearing,” stated
W ilton in an email.
W ilton will represent C C C since the
case will appear in small claims court, which
doesn’t require an attorney. T he case should
go to court within 30 days.
Cole declined to comment.
u
... w e believe i t is baseless,
frivolous, a n d an outrage against
Am erican jurisprudence a n d the
courts o f la w o f O reg o n .”
Tara Darris
Defendant in lawsuit
W hen asked at what stage the lawsuit
is in, he said, “They (Darrises) have yet
to make an appearance,” Tait stated.
W hen asked abflut the lawsuit the'
Darrises stated in a email, “W e have
no comment on it, other than that we
believe it is baseless, frivolous, and an
outrage against American jurisprudence
and the courts o f law or Oregon. In
fact, it is our contention that this lawsuit
was a strategic lawsuit to financially
exhaust us so that We could not afford
to seek legal remedy for what we believe
to be civil rights violations committed
against Dr. Darris by agents o f CCC.”
In response, Courtney Wilton, vice
president o f college services, said, “T hat
is absolutely not correct. We have no
involvement in this whatsoever.”
He continued to say, “It is not fair
for the college (for Darris) to make
statements like that when it is absolutely
not true.”
W hen asked what the college tried to
do to resolve the issue between Martinez
and Dairis, W ilton said he was unable
to go into detail since it is a personnel
issue.
“It’s frustrating and I would love to
give you everything but I can’t.” W hen
asked how he thought the lawsuit makes
the college look he said, “I don’t see it
having a big impact on out image; I
see it as a lawsuit. It is not against the
college; it’s a lawsuit between two indi
viduals. I really don’t see us really being
involved in this.” |
Tait said he expects the lawsuit to be
closed in a year.
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