A lawsuit filed against Emory by a former student was dismissed last week, affirming the University’s right to expel a student based on conduct violations.

Kevin Kuritzky was expelled from the School of Medicine in April 2005, 41 days before he was set to graduate.

In February 2006, he filed a lawsuit against Emory claiming that the school expelled him in retaliation for allegations he made that Grady Memorial Hospital and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, both affiliates of the medical school, were violating safety and patient care regulations.

Emory said Kurtizky’s allegations about the two hospitals are false and unjustified.

DeKalb Superior Court Judge Robert J. Castellani dismissed the case, backing with Emory’s decision to expel Kuritzky.

Castellani granted the University a summary judgment, writing that “there is no necessity to encroach upon the university’s decision here at issue.”

The order said Kuritzky’s expulsion was due to his “repeated dishonest and unprofessional behavior,” including lying about his mother’s death.

Ron Sauder, vice president of communications for Emory, agreed with Castellani’s decision.

“The medical school acted properly and followed its own policies and responsibilities, [and the] lawsuit lacked substance,” Sauder said.

Kuritzky and his attorney, Fred Orr, plan to take the case to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

“We believe the trial court will be reversed by the Court of Appeals of Georgia,” Orr wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel.

Orr wrote that Kuritzky has three separate legal claims against the University, including “breach of contract for failure to follow disciplinary procedures set forth in student handbook, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, and battery.”

In his complaint, Kuritzky alleged that the chair of the medical school’s honor council “committed an assault and battery upon me by requiring me to submit to an unlawful body search for a recording device” before an honor council hearing.

Castellani wrote that “this brief pat-down was insufficiently intrusive under the circumstances to warrant this issue being placed before a trier of fact.”
Kuritzky and Orr plan to seek both monetary and punitive damages. Orr added that Kuritzky’s criticism of safety and patient care regulations at Grady Hospital and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center prompted Emory to retaliate against Kuritzky, resulting in Emory’s decision to expel him.

“The flimsy charges brought against our client following his criticisms of conditions at the hospitals show on their face that the university has acted in bad faith,” Orr wrote.

Kuritzky, who is currently writing a book about his ordeal, said that the court’s decision “will be another delay in the case.”

But Kuritzky added that he “looks forward to a jury trial after the appeals process.”

— Contact Dua Hassan at dahassa@learnlink.emory.edu