A female Ohio University student who won $350,000 in a sexual harassment lawsuit against a former professor is suing him again, this time for not destroying photographs he took of her partially naked.
Graduate student Rebecca Humes settled her first lawsuit against former visual communications professor Larry Nighswander in January 2005 under the condition that Nighswander destroy the photographs, which Humes said were taken during the same incident that Nighswander inappropriately touched her chest. Nighswander and OU also split a $350,000 payment to Humes as part of the settlement, and OU overhauled its policy for handling sexual harassment accusations.
Humes filed the most recent lawsuit in June 2006 after learning that Fairfield County sheriff's deputies had raided Nighswander's Pickerington home and office in July 2005 in an unrelated case and found pictures of her. She is seeking the destruction of the pictures and monetary damages, which by law must be more than $25,000.
OU notified Humes' lawyer that the pictures existed after Fairfield County sheriff's deputies contacted the university's independent lawyer, said John Burns, OU's director of legal affairs. He said university investigators never found any pictures of Humes on Nighswander's office computer, but the professor generally kept pictures on his personal PDA (personal digital assistant).
Nighswander's lawyer, Adele O'Conner of Columbus, wrote a letter to Humes' lawyer and OU's lawyer in January 2005 stating that she destroyed two CDs containing photographs of Humes and 96 black and white photos that were provided by OU. O'Conner did not return repeated phone messages seeking comment, and Nighswander could not be reached.
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Matt Zapotosky
