One of the men sued by a former Cornell University student identified as Jane Doe has asked a judge to dismiss the claims against him, arguing that her allegations do not support her broader accusations of rape and sexual assault.Diego Sarabia filed the motion Friday seeking dismissal of all claims against him in the lawsuit Doe filed Sept.16 in New York state court.
Sarabia, who was a member of the Chi Phi fraternity, was one of seven men originally sued by Doe for allegedly participating in a gang rape at the Chi Phi house from Oct.19 to 20, 2024.Sarabia denies the allegations against him, according to the filing.
His attorneys argue that even if the complaint’s factual allegations are accepted as true for the purposes of the motion, the claims against him were filed too late, are legally insufficient, or both.James C.Knox, an attorney for Sarabia, wrote in the motion that as far as the allegations against his client, “this is essentially a lawsuit about a forced kiss.” Knox argued that the conduct Doe attributed to Sarabia did not qualify for the extended statue of limitations she cited for certain sexual offenses.Doe accused Sarabia of grabbing her face, kissing her and snorting ketamine off her body with other fraternity members during a drug and alcohol-fueled encounter in what was known as the “alumni room” of the fraternity house.“Throughout a sprawling complaint approaching 600 paragraphs, plaintiff repeatedly, collectively and without differentiation accuses seven student defendants of ‘sexual assault and rape,’” Knox wrote in his filing.
“Those legally conclusory statements do not substitute for pleaded facts.”Knox argued that the complaint did not allege that Sarabia “supplied her with drugs or alcohol, participated in any of the alleged sexual encounters described elsewhere in the complaint, or was even present for most of the conduct that forms the basis of plaintiff’s broader allegations.”The attorney said that the assau...