The court case involving Francisco Arce, vice president of student services, and Kristi Blackburn, former dean of fine arts, concluded two weeks ago, and all but one of the charges were dropped.
Blackburn was awarded $45,184 as a result of the court ruling, citing damages caused by a breach of contract and unfairly interfering with Blackburn’s right to receive the benefits of that contract, as stated in the Special Verdict Form.
Blackburn said she was verbally promised a pay increase six months into her first year at EC by the administration, which was never documented. However, EC claims the reason for not distributing the raise was her lack of experience.
The allegations made by Blackburn aganst Arce about working in a hostile environment, discriminating against her due to her African American husband and retaliating against her, were all thrown out by Judge Michael Vicencia.
Although the ruling was largely in favor of EC, Emma Biggs, head juror said to the Daily Breeze that she does not believe all the discrimination and charges should have been dropped.
Blackburn did not want to comment on the ruling but she did say that she wanted to thank the faculty and students of EC and just wanted to move on.
Blackburn plans to appeal the decision, Steven Haney, Blackburn’s attorney, said.
“We have confidence we will ultimately prevail on appeal,” he said