Judge: UW-Whitewater cannot collect from ex-dean
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge says the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater cannot collect damages from a former dean accused of misusing school money.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller says the university waited until after a two-year statute of limitations expired to sue former College of Letters and Sciences Dean Howard Ross over the alleged breach.
He says the university also cannot sue Ross for misrepresenting the nature of his purchases because it failed to show that any were for his personal benefit.
Ross was removed as dean in 2006 after an audit found he made undocumented and inappropriate purchases. Stadtmueller ordered a trial on his claim that he was singled out for the audit because he's black.
Nov 18, 2009 at 7:35 a.m.
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The audit of Ross was a joke and travesty to begin with, and this is the main reason it was dismissed with prejudice by a Federal Judge. You are forming your opinions on a newspaper article. I read the transcripts of depositions by all parties, the various versions of the audit, audit work papers, related documents as well as emails. This was a bogus audit used to demote him from the position of Dean. So if he stole all this money (first charge was $300,000) why didn't they arrest him and file criminal charges when the first audit came out in April 2006? A second audit amount was released to the media in September 2006, amount was $113,000, a third audit amount of 117,000 was released to the media in April 2007. UW Officials were using all this time to rush and clean up the audit as much as possible because Ross continued to challenge it. Just so you are aware, there were actually two audits conducted of Ross. The first one was for the period Jan - June 2005, and after he commented on a story in the press, they increased the time period to 1999-2006 and went searching for any and everything that they could find to put in the audit. BTW - right after the audit was released to the media, the Internal Auditor resigned and took another position, her supervisor suddenly retired. Read the judges 50 page ruling on this case. This was a so called special audit, and there have been TWO special audits in the entire history of Whitewater, both of black deans in the same time period. There has been ONE 7 year audit - Ross!
Sep 8, 2009 at 2 p.m.
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Appeal, the process was started prior to the two year SOL, There is enough evidence to prosecute and I do not understand why the State attorney's office did not take the case.
Sep 8, 2009 at 1:45 p.m.
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Statutes of limitations exist so that cases can be tried while evidence and witnesses are still fresh, and so that the threat of a lawsuit cannot be held over someone indefinitely as a form of blackmail.
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As to this case, it would appear not only to have been filed too late, but pretty weak sauce. The burden of evidence is on the plaintiff, though I admit surprise they couldn't show that, say, internet dating charges had no job-related purpose.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-a...
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I would expect an appeal.
Sep 8, 2009 at 11:45 a.m.
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So I guess theft is OK now. I say theft because that's exactly what it was. And a "two-year statute of limitations"? Who wrote that law?
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