A lawyer for two of the William Paterson University students accused of a campus gang rape announced Friday morning they intended to sue the school, its president and other officials after all charges against the men were dismissed.

A Passaic County grand jury last month declined to indict the college freshmen -- Darius Singleton, of Jersey City, Termaine Scott, of Vineland, Garrett Collick, of Paterson, Jahmel Latimer, of Hoboken, and Noah Williams, of Camden, all 18 -- on charges filed by campus police alleging they participated in a sexual assault and kidnapping of another student.

Michael J. Epstein, a lawyer representing Collick, his mother, Nancy Williams, and Noah Williams, filed a "notice of tort claim," this week, which is required when someone plans to sue a public agency.

William Paterson University officials failed to conduct a proper investigation of the rape allegations and were not properly trained to investigate such crimes, the claim said. The students were deprived of their rights to due process when they were arrested without probable cause, leading to violations of the state and U.S. Constitution, the claim further alleged.

"Our investigation to date is the William Paterson University Police Department had little-to-no training with respect to evaluating or investigating sexual assault, sexual violence allegations," Epstein said.

University officials made public statements about the case "defaming the character and reputation," of the two students, according to the tort claim, filed by Rochelle Park-based Epstein Law Firm.

"As a result of the defamatory statements stated herein, claimant has suffered and continues to suffer significant damage to his reputation, emotional injuries, economic losses, has had his Constitutional and civil rights violated, and has sustained various other expenses and damages," the claim said.

Epstein said his clients were relieved by the grand jury decision, but were struggling with the lasting impacts of the accusations and arrest.

"They can't get jobs," he said. "These are young men who want to be students, but they cannot because they've been banned from campus."

In a written statement issued days after the alleged Nov. 25 sexual assault at the Overlook South dorm, University President Kathleen Waldron described the incident as a "criminal act" and said she was "angry and dismayed that this crime was committed on our campus and allegedly by students."

School authorities did not immediately alert specially trained investigators with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office of the alleged sex crimes, according to the claim.

Defense attorneys who represented some of the men have criticized the school for apparently not notifying the prosecutor's office when the alleged sex assault was first reported. Instead, they said the campus police force launched its own investigation and made the arrests while ignoring evidence that would have cleared the men.

The University has previously declined to answer questions about its handling of the case, or say if the five students would be allowed to continue classes after all charges were dismissed. In a statement released after the grand jury decision, the school said its own "student conduct process" would continue.

In an interview, Epstein said the students would not participate in the University's hearing process.

"Given what's occurred to date we don't have confidence they would be provided with due process or treated fairly," he added.

A William Paterson spokeswoman said the school does not comment on legal issues.

Additional details of the allegations and investigation remained unclear and grand jury proceedings are held in secret. Defense lawyers who represented the men have declined to provide specifics on the case, but said there was a range of evidence that cleared the five.

James Kleimann contributed to this report



Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

