A judge has issued a tentative decision against a professor who sued UCLA after he was suspended in the wake of the George Floyd-Black Lives Matter riots after refusing a request to grade black students leniently.

Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford’s recent ruling against UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein sides with UCLA on all three causes of action: breach of contract, false light, and negligent interference with prospective earnings. 

Klein’s legal team has filed an appeal, and Judge Ford is scheduled to consider that request, or enter a decision finalizing his tentative ruling, at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 9. 

If the judge does not amend his tentative ruling, Klein will receive nothing in a case in which he sought a $13 million dollar award, alleging the university and a former UCLA business school dean destroyed his lucrative expert witness practice when it publicly suspended him. 

“It’s a bloodbath against Klein. It rewards him nothing,” said documentarian Rob Montz in a documentary on the controversy he published last week first reporting on Ford’s Dec. 1 ruling titled “When a Professor Took His Cancellation to Trial.”

“No punitive damages, no compensatory damages,” Montz said. “Gordon doesn’t get a dollar.”

Klein, who has now taught at UCLA for about 45 years, argued in his lawsuit he averaged about $1 million annually as an expert witness in many high-profile corporate cases. 

But he argued his suspension meant he would have to disclose that administrative punishment, hurting his credibility with jurors and effectively making him undesirable as an expert witness. 

Ford, in his 30-page ruling, agrees UCLA had the contractual right to place Klein on administrative leave while it investigated the massive controversy surrounding Klein’s email to a student rejecting his request to grade black students’ leniently and the viral uproar it created. 

“UCLA had the right to determine what public response was necessary to address and mitigate the immediate [and] extraordinary public outrage toward both Klein and UCLA arising from the public disclosure of Klein’s email,” Ford wrote.

Ford also sided with the testimony of UCLA finance Professor Antonio Bernardo, then-dean of the business school, who said during the non-jury trial over the summer that he had little to no knowledge of Klein’s successful expert witness practice when he sent memos to the campus community letting it know of Klein’s suspension back in June 2020.

“Klein has not met his burden to show Bernardo’s decision to place Klein on academic leave was arbitrary, made in bad faith, or otherwise violated the academic freedom policy,” Ford wrote. 

“…While done quickly, the Court finds Bernardo’s broad consultation with many others in leadership positions within the administration prior to making the decision to place [Klein] on administrative leave was honest, reasonable, and consistent with the exercise of discretion in good faith permitted by the [employment] contract.”

Bernardo and UCLA’s media relations team did not respond to a request from The College Fix on Saturday seeking comment.

A controversy in the making

Klein’s June 2020 email to a student who had asked for leniency for black students in the wake of George Floyd’s death had stated:

Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota. Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we’ve been having online classes only? Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?

Also, do you have any idea if any students are from Minneapolis? I assume that they probably are especially devastated as well. I am thinking that a white student from there might possibly be even more devastated by this, especially because some might think that they’re racist even if they are not. My TA is from Minneapolis, so if you don’t know, I can probably ask her.

Can you guide me on how you think I should achieve a “no-harm” outcome since our sole course grade is from a final exam only? One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the “color of their skin.” Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK’s admonition?

Ford, in his ruling, stated he agreed with UCLA’s attorneys that “harm to Klein’s reputation stemmed from his own emails and the publicity they generated. Klein’s email to [a student] was viewed by 18 million people before he was placed on leave or before any communication was sent by Bernardo.”

Bernardo’s emails, by contrast, “were internal messages sent to approximately 2,500 to 3,000 Anderson faculty, students, and staff. …Klein independently expanded the public controversy by speaking to the Associated Press and Fox News and by publishing op-eds,” Ford wrote.

Ford cited litigation consultant company representatives who testified they disassociated with Klein for more than just the suspension email, but rather “the whole package” and “a combination of factors.” 

Klein’s team files appeal

In their appeal to the ruling, Klein’s legal team stated Ford “ignores central aspects” of the case.

Primarily, they argue, Ford sidestepped “overwhelming evidence” that Bernardo suspended Klein not for legitimate administrative reasons, but because he and other campus leaders were offended by the content of Klein’s email and his apparent anti-BLM ideology.

“The Court states … Bernardo acted out of a genuine ‘concern regarding the safety of students,’ even though the university was completely shut down [during the COVID pandemic],” the appeal states, adding Klein also had an unblemished record after four decades of teaching there.

“The notion that [Klein’s] written email expressing his belief in equal treatment for all students constituted a safety risk is ludicrous and does not support a finding that Bernardo had a good faith concern for safety.”

Klein’s attorneys also argue the judge missed the mark regarding Klein’s consulting business.

They wrote in the appeal that under California law, Klein does not have to prove the suspension was the only reason he lost work, he just has to show it was a major contributing reason, even if other factors, like the email controversy, also played a role.

“In fact, defendants offered testimony from representatives of plaintiff’s referral sources expressly stating that the suspension was a central factor in their decision to stop referring matters to plaintiff, among other reasons. The law merely requires proof that the suspension was a substantial factor in their decision, not that it was the only thing they considered,” the appeal states.

Klein is asking for the tentative ruling to be tossed, or for a new trial with a different judge.

Montz, who followed the trial over the summer and published the documentary on it, told The College Fix in an interview Sunday he was very surprised by the tentative ruling.

“From what I was able to gather from the trial itself, it seemed as if the judge would have found some merit in at least one of his claims,” Montz said.

“People, when they watch the documentary, can judge for themselves. But what he said in the moment was totally reasonable, and nobody should have their career — and almost their life — ruined for quoting Martin Luther King.”

MORE: Trial set to begin over UCLA prof suspended after refusing lenient grading for black students