As reported in the Bohemian June 4, former Santa Rosa Junior College nursing instructor Daniel Doolan is filing a second lawsuit against the school after winning over $300,000 in a case last year. It was reported today by the Press Democrat that he is seeking $15 million.
Doolan’s lawyer, Dustin Collier, told the Bohemian he would be filing suit for the dismissal and denial of tenure status by the school in this second lawsuit, but had estimated the amount at $1.6 million. “There’s a whole year’s worth of allegations that weren’t adjudicated yet,” he says of the first lawsuit. “For whatever reason, [a supervisor] started making allegations that he was a physical threat,” says Collier. “He is a big guy, about 6’3”, 6’4”, a little over 200 pounds, but he is a giant teddy bear.”
SRJC’s vice president of human resources Karen Furukawa-Schlereth says the first case brought four charges: Gender discrimination; sexual harrassment; failure to prevent harassment; and defamation of character. A jury found in favor of Doolan on the defamation charge, awarding him over ten times the $25,000 he was seeking. “My recent info does look like we will be appealing the decision,” she says.
Meanwhile, Doolan’s new case centers around his termination and what his lawyer refers to as “manipulation” of his tenure review process. All in all, Collier says his client has been set back about 10 years in terms of professional advancement.
