A judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block the University of California from renaming a leading law school whose namesake was linked to the slaughter of Native Americans
A judge has thrown out a lawsuit that sought to block the University of California from renaming the former Hastings College of the Law because its namesake was linked to the slaughter of Native Americans.
Descendants of Serranus Hastings filed the $1.7 billion breach of contract lawsuit over the decision to change the name to the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, which took effect last year.
Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer ruled Tuesday that an 1878 law that said the school “shall forever be known” by Hastings’ name wasn’t a binding contract and could be amended or repealed, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Ulmer also rejected a claim that the change violated the state Constitution’s requirement that the University of California remain “free of all political or sectarian influence,” the Chronicle said.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs, Gregory Michael, said the ruling will be appealed.
“We remain undeterred in our pursuit of justice for the family of Serranus Hastings,” he told the Chronicle on Wednesday.
Read Full Story at
