HBS Professor Francesca Gino

Francesca Gino’s controversial $25 million lawsuit against the Harvard Business School was dealt a major setback on Wednesday when a federal judge dismissed her defamation claims against the school and an academic blog that had accused her of research fraud.

In response to motions filed by HBS and the authors of the blog Data Colada to dismiss the case, U.S. District Court Judge Myong J. Joun kicked out much of Gino’s claims on the basis that she failed to plausibly make her case. Gino had alleged that she was not merely defamed but that her reputation and career had been destroyed by the accusations of fraud which she denies, that her privacy had been violated, and that her relationships with publishers had been irreparably damaged when HBS sent letters to journals asking them to retract the studies.

The judge essentially deemed Gino a “public figure” given her celebrity in academic and business circles. “If a plaintiff qualifies as a ‘public figure,'” he wrote, “she may recover for defamation only if she proves actual malice by clear and convincing evidence….such a plaintiff must demonstrate with convincing clarity that the defamatory falsehood was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for the truth.'” Joun said Gino’s complaint “does not plausibly allege that the Harvard Defendants knew that they were making false statements through the Retraction Notices or that they had reason to doubt the truth.”

JUDGE ALLOWS CASE TO PROCEED AGAINST HBS ON BREECH OF CONTRACT GROUNDS

The decision by Judge Joun won’t end Gino’s lawsuit, however. Joun opened the door for litigation over Gino’s claim that Harvard breached its contract with her by subjecting her to disciplinary measures in violation of its own disciplinary and tenure policies. Joun wrote that HBS Dean Srikant Datar’s decision to place Gino on unpaid leave for two years could form the basis for a valid claim of breach of contract, writing that the sanctions were tantamount to “removal of her tenure status.”

“In substance, she has been stripped of any ability to be a professor for at least those two years, without knowing whether she will be reinstated afterwards,” wrote the judge.  She added that the lawsuit plausibly alleges that Professor Gino’s secure, lifetime position as a professor has been interrupted, effectively constituting removal of her tenure status, such that it would be premature for me to dismiss her claims on this issue.”

In her 40-page decision, the judge noted Gino’s argument that Harvard spent three weeks to create a new interim disciplinary policy just for her. “The Interim Policy was never vetted by HBS faculty. On information and belief, HBS’s past practice has been to take many months to create policies applicable to faculty members. Prior HBS policies have been commonly vetted by HBS faculty.”

GINO’S LAWYERS PUT A POSITIVE SPIN ON THE DECISION

Despite the major setback, Gino’s lawyers put a positive spin on Joun’s decision. “We are pleased with the court’s decision to allow this litigation to continue and that Harvard will have to answer for how they have destroyed her career and put every member of the Harvard faculty at risk,” Andrew Miltenberg, Gino’s lawyer, wrote in a statement. Miltenberg claimed the decision “clearly demonstrates Harvard treated Professor Gino differently from other misconduct investigations and their own stated policies.”

The decision is yet another extraordinary development in a widening controversy over accusations that Gino, an award-winning behavioral scientist, has been accused of fabricating data in at least four published research papers, and possibly many more. After a three-person investigation committee found her guilty of research misconduct in 2023, Dean Datar placed Gino on unpaid administrative leave, took away all her benefits, including healthcare, banned her from campus and Harvard’s publishing platforms, and began the unusual process of stripping her of tenure. The controversy has led to widespread media coverage, including The New York Times and The New Yorker, and a $25 million lawsuit against Dean Datar, the university, and the authors of the Data Colada blog that first raised the accusations. Seven tenured professors at Harvard Business School–all writing anonymously–have also attacked the dean for his handling of the case.

This initial decision is a significant win for both Harvard Business School and Data Colada which argued that Gino’s lawsuit would have a ‘chilling effect’ on the ability of other academic blogs to publish critiques of academic work. The judge knocked out one claim after another in Gino’s lawsuit. Joun ruled that Harvard’s decision to publicly announce that Gino had been placed on administrative leave did not violate her privacy. “Professor Gino’s administrative leave status is not information of a highly personal or intimate nature,” wrote Joun. “As Dean Datar informed Professor Gino, an intended purpose behind disclosure was to notify others that she would be ‘unavailable to engage in research, teaching, and mentoring and advising.’ The violation of privacy claim thus cannot stand.”

THE LAWSUIT WILL NOT PROCEED TO DISCOVERY

“Professor Gino claims that the Data Colada defendants exerted pressure on the Harvard Defendants to improperly investigate and subject her to adverse employment actions, and she implies that they were motivated by a bias against female academics in so doing–but she fails to provide a reasonable factual basis for these claims,” wrote the judge.

Joun also dismissed claims that HBS and the blog authors colluded to damage her reputation. “Where Professor Gino’s defamation claims fail against all defendants, her conspiracy claim based on those defamation allegations must also fail,” wrote Joun. And beyond the individual defamation claims, the FAC fails to plausibly allege any fact showing a common intent or establishing the existence of an agreement, either explicit or implied, between the Harvard and Data Colada defendants to defame Professor Gino.”

What remains of Gino’s case will now move to discovery and an eventual trial.

DON’T MISS: WHAT FRANCESCA GINO’S HARVARD LAWSUIT SAYS ABOUT DATA COLADA’S FRAUD ALLEGATIONS or  THE ACADEMIC MOB COMES FOR A HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL THOUGHT LEADER