Community Corner
Lawsuit Between Mentor Mom and Bryant & Stratton Transferred To Federal Court
Consequently, the suit -- which stemmed from a disagreement involving breast feeding -- was dismissed from Lake County Court of Common Pleas
The lawsuit that a Mentor mom filed against the Bryant & Stratton College campus in Eastlake -- which stemmed from a disagreement involving breast feeding -- has been transferred from Lake County Court of Common Pleas to the U.S. Federal Court in Cleveland.
Consequently, the suit has been dismissed in Lake County Court of Common Pleas and will proceed in the federal court.
In the suit, Erin Corral claims Bryant & Stratton discriminated against her and denied her the right to breast feed her baby while she was a nursing student there.
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Corral said she was repeatedly locked out of a class by her instructor Davida Smith -- who is also named in the lawsuit -- when she would go to her car during a 15-minute break in her Nursing Fundamentals class to pump breast milk.
Corral said she appealed to Timothy Farrell, the Eastlake campus's dean of instruction. However, circumstances did not improve, according to the lawsuit.
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Ultimately, Corral stopped attending classes at the Eastlake campus and Bryant & Stratton dismissed her from the RN program.
n the lawsuit, Corral said she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and then the college retaliated against her when she initially made these claims. Corral said the school also denied her the right to breast feed.
Corral said the school's actions have caused her emotional distress.
In her lawsuit, Corral is asking for more than $25,000.
The college has responded to Corral's lawsuit in a statement. They said:
"Ms. Corral has been alleging discrimination by Bryant & Stratton College for two years. Her allegations have been investigated by the Ohio State Board of Nursing and the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and both organizations found no wrong doing by Bryant and Stratton College.
"Due to concerns for Ms. Corral’s privacy rights under FERPA and Bryant & Stratton College’s practice of not commenting on ongoing litigation, Bryant & Stratton College cannot offer further comment on this matter."
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