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Verdicts & Settlements

Former George Mason University law prof says he’s ‘fully vindicated’ after ‘relatively modest’ defamation suit settlement

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 12, 2025, 2:59 pm CDT

A former professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School has reached a settlement in his defamation lawsuit against two former students who alleged that he abused his power to initiate sexual relationships with them when they were law students.

Professor Joshua D. Wright settled with Elyse Dorsey and dropped his claim against Freshfields counsel Angela Landry, report Law.com, Law360 and Reuters.

His suit, filed in Fairfax County, Virginia, circuit court, had sought $108 million in damages.

The articles identify Dorsey as a Kirkland & Ellis partner, but the law firm’s website page for her appears to have been removed.

Dorsey’s settlement “provides Wright with a relatively modest amount of compensation and allows Dorsey to continue speaking out,” Law.com reports. Wright filed a motion to end the litigation last week.

Wright had maintained that the relationships were consensual, and the two women were “scorned former lovers.” In a statement released to Law360, he said he is “relieved to have been fully vindicated. The evidence has made it undeniably clear that the relationships in question were consensual from the start. I remain fully committed to defending my reputation and will not hesitate to take further legal action if necessary to hold accountable those responsible for false accusations.”

The two defendants said they were pleased with the development.

A statement by Dorsey’s lawyer said the settlement will exclusively be paid from insurance “and constituted less than 0.3% of the damages professor Wright sought in the litigation,” according to Law.com.

“Settling this case was a difficult decision, but it allows me to continue my advocacy work without the distraction or continued trauma of ongoing litigation,” Dorsey said in a statement cited by Law.com.

Wright has the option of refiling his claim within six months against Landry. Her lawyer, Stacey Rose Harris, told Law.com that the dismissal “obviously speaks for itself.”

“Parties ‘vindicated’ in litigation don’t voluntarily dismiss their own claims on the eve of trial,” Harris said.

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PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management today announced the Desert Quartzite Solar facility, located near Blythe in eastern Riverside County, is now fully operational and producing clean energy to power up to 120,000 homes. The 300 megawatt (MW) solar facility also has 150 MW of battery storage, increasing reliability and availability of clean energy on the state grid.

“The Desert Quartzite solar facility will deliver a combined total of 450 MW of renewable energy and battery storage to the southern California grid, marking another significant milestone in the BLM’s commitment to renewable energy development,” said California Desert District Manager Shelly Lynch.

EDF Renewables acquired the Desert Quartzite Solar project in 2022 and modified it for a more efficient layout and increased solar energy generation. Additional information about the project is available at the BLM National NEPA Register.

Since January 2021, BLM has approved 45 renewable energy projects on public lands (11 solar, 14 geothermal, 2 wind, and 18 gen-ties) and exceeded the goal to permit 25 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2025. Overall, BLM has permitted clean energy projects on public lands with a total capacity of more than 33 gigawatts – enough to power more than 15 million homes. This year BLM also issued a final Renewable Energy Rule that will lower consumer energy costs and the cost of developing solar and wind projects, improve project application processes, create jobs, and incentivize developers to continue responsibly developing solar and wind projects on public lands.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — A new project on federal public lands is now delivering enough clean energy to power over 207,000 southern California homes a year. During remarks at the Western Governors Association Winter Meeting Nov. 6, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the Oberon Solar Project, a 500-megawatt photovoltaic facility near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, is fully operational. The project includes up to 250 megawatts of battery storage.

“The completion of the Oberon Solar Project underscores the Bureau of Land Management’s commitment to responsible energy development in pursuit of a carbon free power sector,” said BLM California State Director Karen Mouritsen. “This project is another example of the Bureau’s steadfast commitment to the furtherance of renewable energy and prioritizing a healthier planet.”

The project is sited on roughly 2,600 acres of BLM-managed public lands in an area scientifically analyzed and identified as suitable for clean energy development as part of the BLM’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. The plan focuses on 10.8 million acres of public lands in the desert regions of seven California counties to streamline renewable energy development, while conserving unique and valuable desert ecosystems and providing outdoor recreation opportunities.

In 2022, the BLM authorized Oberon Solar LLC to construct the solar photovoltaic facility and an approximately 0.5-mile single circuit 500-kilovolt generation interconnection transmission line to deliver power through the Southern California Edison Red Bluff Substation. The system will generate 500 megawatts of electricity daily to include 250 megawatts of battery storage available for delivery as needed by the California Independent System Operator.

Additional information, including National Environmental Policy Act documents, are available at the BLM National NEPA Register.