Thank You for the input. Yes SIR DMC and Accused are Guilty. How much did it cost US? Another Tax Increase?

"With this payoff we will never see a trial which would make the facts of the case public to everyone. So Del Mar covers up their guilt again and the pay off comes out of the taxpayers pocket. So much for the DMC lawyers lies and bluffs."

anonymous

Regents approve settlement in Del Mar harassment suit

By Israel Saenz Caller-Times
October 18, 2006

Del Mar College Board of Regents voted to approve settlements Tuesday in civil rights lawsuits filed by a former instructor and former student against the college and six current and former school officials.

Del Mar attorney Augustin Rivera said regents approved the settlement Tuesday at the board's meeting. The settlements will not be finalized unless the plaintiffs - former Del Mar criminology instructor Alberto Benitez and former Del Mar student Melody Lopez - approve it, Rivera said.

The possible settlement was first tentatively agreed upon by Del Mar, Benitez and Lopez attorneys in September. Neither Benitez nor his attorney, Robert Heil, returned messages Tuesday.

Benitez and Melody Lopez filed the lawsuit in September 2005, alleging school officials unlawfully terminated Benitez's employment after he supported Lopez's claim of racial harassment by a Del Mar employee.

Rivera said a tentative agreement was reached last month after federal Chief Judge Hayden W. Head Jr. dismissed civil rights violations claims against six of the college's current and former officials in a pre-trial hearing Sept. 7.

Head did not dismiss the suit's claims against the college as a whole.

Benitez's and Lopez's suit states college officials played a role in either Benitez's termination or retaliation against Lopez, who the suit states officials expelled from the college in September 2004.