WASHINGTON - eTradeWire -- Now that criminal charges have been dropped against the students who engaged in an illegal protest, the University of Michigan [UMich] may have to bring a civil torts lawsuit against the criminals

The members of UMich's Board of Regents have been warned thattheir legal duties as fiduciaries may require them to have UMich bring a civil legal action against students who committed crimes as a part of their protest.

The argument for such a civil lawsuit was greatly strengthened when the AG advised them that the evidence is strong enough to convict the students of their crimes.

Members of the Board of Regents of UMich ave a fiduciary obligation to preserve and protect UMich's property.

Since student protestors engaged in criminal acts which resulted in some $100,000 in damages to physical property, the Board and UMich may have no choice but to sue, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

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He notes that, at many universities, the threat of criminal prosecution has not deterred criminal activities by protestors since students inclined to commit crimes to dramatize their cause are not deterred by the mere threat of small criminal fines if convicted.

Here, since three prosecutors have all refused to bring any criminal prosecutions, there is no real deterrent to the type of violence which is occurring at many other universities.

Banzhaf, who has won many novel legal actions, notes that there are many advantages to bringing civil actions over trying to rely solely upon criminal prosecutions; as UMich has apparently done so far:
■ the university, and not prosecutors, get to make all the decisions, and neither prosecutorial reluctance nor jury nullification can undercut the proceedings,
■ each and every individual student involved in the illegal demonstration can be held liable for the total amount of all damages caused, regardless of any need to prove who caused what,

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■ the burden of proof is much lower than in criminal cases, although here the AG has determined that the proof against the students does meet even the higher criminal standard,
■ lawyers will often agree to bring civil cases on a no-fee contingency basis, so UMich has everything to gain and nothing to lose by suing

Banzhaf - who has been called "a Driving Force Behind the Lawsuits That Have Cost Tobacco Companies Billions of Dollars," the "Dean of Public Interest Lawyers," "The law professor who took on Nixon and Trump," and "The Man Big Tobacco and Now Fast Food Love to Hate" - cites the following as only a few examples of how large judgements can provide much more effective deterrence than the small fines usually imposed in criminal proceedings: . .

http://banzhaf.net/   jbanzhaf3ATgmail.com