Longstanding lawsuit against Fort Worth seminary settled days before trial
.JPG "Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary opened its J.W. MacGorman Chapel and Performance Center on Dec. 1, 2011.")
A lawsuit filed against the former president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was settled days before it was scheduled to go to trial, according to court records.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019 by a female former student, alleged that past seminary president Paige Patterson and the institution defamed her after she reported she had been sexually assaulted multiple times.
The student, who filed the lawsuit under the pseudonym Jane Roe, alleged that she met her rapist in 2014 while he was employed as a plumber on campus. The fellow student took an “immediate interest” in Roe and began to “pursue her relentlessly,” including leaving notes on her car, according to the initial suit.
On several occasions, Roe turned down invitations to go on a date with the man, according to the suit.
Roe said she was first raped when she fell asleep on a lawn chair at a campus barbecue in October 2014, the Star-Telegram previously reported. She awoke to the fellow student assaulting her while armed with a gun.
The fellow student would later threaten murder or suicide if Roe didn’t “stay with” him, and raped her again in April 2015 after forcing his way into her home. Roe reported the rapes to Patterson in August 2015, and Patterson told her he was “too busy” to deal with the report.
Patterson was later fired outright for his handling of the situation, the Star-Telegram previously reported.
The lawsuit was “amicably resolved,” Roe’s attorney Sheila Haddock told the Dallas Morning News.
In a statement, officials with the seminary denied the allegations in the initial lawsuit and said they were “grateful” that the matter was resolved.
“Southwestern Seminary is grateful that this matter has been amicably resolved for all involved. The Seminary has consistently denied any liability or wrongdoing, and the rulings in the case are a matter of public record,” said James Smith, the seminary’s vice president for communications. “We are thankful to put this chapter behind us and to remain focused on our mission.”
Attorneys for Patterson did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.
