Cornell Associate University Counsel Nelson Roth will file a motion early next week in federal district court in the western district of Pennsylvania to dismiss the defamation lawsuit brought against Cornell labor scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner.
Beverly Enterprises Inc., the nation's largest nursing home operator, is suing Bronfenbrenner for defamation over testimony she gave last May at a town-hall meeting in Pittsburgh, attended by more than 300 people, including U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. Several congressmen called the meeting to discuss proposed legislation that would bar major labor law violators from obtaining federal grants.
Bronfenbrenner, director of Labor Education Research at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, reported on confidential research she conducted on anti-union tactics. In her remarks, about 10 minutes in length, Bronfenbrenner commented on the unfair labor practices of certain employers, including Beverly Enterprises, to curb organizing efforts. Bronfenbrenner denounced Beverly as "one of the nation's most notorious labor law violators."
"I was truly shocked by the lawsuit. Everything I said was the truth," Bronfenbrenner said recently. "It just didn't seem possible that a corporation would be able to do this. I'm outraged and frightened that this action on behalf of a corporation has the ability to intimidate scholars about speaking publicly on these important issues."
Academics at home are watching the Bronfenbrenner case closely.
"I think this lawsuit is an egregious attack on academic freedom that could have a chilling effect on the types of research our faculty and staff are engaged in," said Edward J. Lawler, dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. "It also could quiet our efforts to disseminate our findings. The public service component of our school is very strong. Scholars have an obligation to share their findings in a way that they can be understood widely."
Bronfenbrenner's outrage and Lawler's concern also is shared by hundreds of academics around the world. More than 700 professors -- including two former U.S. secretaries of labor -- have signed their names to a petition protesting the defamation lawsuit.
"The circumstances and background of this suit make clear that this is a thinly veiled attack on Dr. Bronfenbrenner's academic freedom and her rights under the First Amendment," states the petition, which was drafted by professors at California Western School of Law and the University of Texas Law School.
Furthermore, the petition states the lawsuit is "an insult to academic inquiry and a disgrace to the legal profession."
"I'm very touched by the show of support," said Bronfenbrenner, who earned a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1993. "I think the situation has touched a nerve and has awakened the consciousness of hundreds of scholars who are afraid of the precedent this would set. Whether you do research on the tobacco or food products industry, now there is concern that anyone who researches corporate behavior and reports it to the public is vulnerable to a lawsuit."
Roth, who, together with Assistant University Counsel Wendy Tarlow, has appeared on behalf of Bronfenbrenner in the federal court lawsuit, said the suit, which seeks at least $225,000 in damages, "is particularly offensive and inappropriate given the circumstances of Bronfenbrenner's statements.
"This was a town meeting, an open forum conducted at the invitation of four congressmen," Roth said. "Kate participated in their forum as a respected academic to give her professional opinion, and now she's facing a lawsuit apparently as part of Beverly's efforts to intimidate and silence critics who dare to speak out against the company's well-documented labor practices."
Cornell has a defense and indemnification policy that provides legal counsel under some circumstances to university employees who are sued.
"It's our view that Kate Bronfenbrenner was performing a public service by sharing results of her research and opinions based upon that research in a forum sponsored by four United States congressmen," Roth said, "and this lawsuit threatens fundamental values of any academic institution."
The lawsuit has taken its toll on Bronfenbrenner. Already a much sought-after commentator on labor issues, Bronfenbrenner has now become the news. She has been featured in stories in the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times and on the Associated Press wire service.
"It has turned my life upside down," said Bronfenbrenner, who now fields dozens of calls a day related to the lawsuit. Her e-mail is full, too, with messages of support. Bronfenbrenner worries that her celebrity status in academic circles will overshadow her research.
"It's difficult to get away from what is happening," she said. "At recent conferences, I'm always introduced as that researcher who's being sued."
Her commitment to public service and research was fostered in large part by her father, the noted child development expert Urie Bronfenbrenner, the J.G. Schurman Professor of Human Development at Cornell. Urie Bronfenbrenner was a frequent witness before congressional panels. His testimony in favor of public funding to meet the needs of children led to him being labeled a Communist by some critics.
"My father taught me that you always do the highest quality research, but you never let anybody sway you from telling the truth," she said.
Bronfenbrenner has researched labor issues for the past decade. She has examined such issues as the contingent work force and employer and union behavior in union certification elections and bargaining campaigns. Labor has not always been pleased by her findings. A recent study suggested that the primary cause of labor's failure to organize has been labor's refusal to commit the resources and strategies necessary to win in the current organization environment. She also has highlighted labor's failure to bring women and minorities into leadership posts.
"Beverly hopes to prove Dr. Bronfenbrenner wrong," the company's lawyer, Michael T. McMenamin, told the Chronicle of Higher Education in its Feb. 25 edition. "We don't believe her research will support her statements."
To win its suit against Bronfenbrenner, Beverly must prove that the statements made by her were false and that she made them maliciously with the knowledge that they were false.
Roth said if the case goes to trial, Beverly's checkered past with regard to labor policies would get a full airing in the courtroom. "I'm not sure that's something they should want to see happen," he said.
In 1995 a General Accounting Office report identified Beverly as one of 15 companies that were "more serious labor law violators." The GAO report examined only those firms with federal contracts.
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