Florida State officials — asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by former student Erica Kinsman — who said former Heisman trophy winner Jameis Winston sexually assaulted her in 2012.
Kinsman filed a lawsuit against the university board of trustees in January — claiming that university officials had knowledge of her alleged sexual harassment and discrimination by Winston — creating a hostile educational environment for her.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, including reimbursement for tuition, damages for emotional pain and suffering, and loss of past and present earning capacity.
Lawyers for the university contend the lawsuit should be dismissed because it does not show that FSU was responsible for her harassment — while maintaining they offered to help her.
“Regrettably the media’s reporting of (the woman’s) allegations led to an Internet and social-media backlash — harassment that FSU did not cause and in an environment that FSU could not control,” states the FSU court filing.
In her lawsuit, Kinsman alleges that both FSU coach Jimbo Fisher and a senior athletic department official learned from police that Winston was a suspect in a rape investigation in January 2013 — which was months before Tallahassee police handed over the case to a local prosecutor.