Former Oregon basketball players Dominic Artis and Damyean Dotson, dismissed by UO in May 2014 after being accused, but never charged, of raping a fellow student at an off-campus party two months earlier, have filed a lawsuit against the university seeking $10 million for each player.

Attorney Alex Spiro, who represents Artis and Dotson, called the suit "a matter of principle" in a brief phone interview Tuesday.



"The University of Oregon failed Mr. Artis and Mr. Dotson -- two remarkable student-athletes -- and must be held responsible," Spiro wrote in a statement.

Filed in Lane County Circuit Court, the suit comes more than four months after Brandon Austin, a third player named in a police report of the alleged rape, filed his own suit against Oregon seeking $7.5 million, and three days before the Ducks begin the NCAA Tournament in Spokane as the first No. 1 seed in school history.



In August the alleged victim, identified as Jane Doe, settled her own lawsuit against UO for $800,000 after she accused the university of violating her Title IX rights, and argued that coach Dana Altman knew or should have known that Austin was under investigation for alleged sexual assault at Providence College prior to his transfer to Oregon.



The suit is against UO, its former president Michael Gottfredson, vice president of student life and interim dean of students Robin Holmes and two others.

"Mr. Artis and Mr. Dotson's lawsuit is no surprise since their attorney has reached out multiple times seeking a financial settlement that we did not entertain," wrote university spokesman Tobin Klinger by email. "As we said when Mr. Austin filed his claims in October, we intend to vigorously defend the university. We remain confident that all these individuals were afforded fair and consistent due process that fully complied with the university's legal obligations."

Among other claims Artis and Dotson's suit alleges the Oregon's investigation was biased against the players and that each player's future income has been damaged by the accusations.

In particular, it singles out the university's handling of a disciplinary hearing -- what the suit calls "an unconstitutional 'sham court' of the very worst order" -- that ultimately banned each from campus for up to 10 years.

The suit claims the five named defendants "breached their duty" by "refusing to allow Artis and Dotson to subpoena witnesses who would be supportive of his defense, refusing to provide unredacted reports, refusing to provide a contested case hearing, refusing to allow cross-examination, refusing to provide due process, and engineering a 'kangaroo court' hearing with the purpose of finding that Artis and Dotson committed a sexual assault that did not in reality occur."

Dotson played this season at Houston, in his hometown, where he averaged 13.9 points per game. Artis played at Texas-El Paso, averaging 11.7 points.

Joining the university, Holmes and Gottfredson as defendants are Sandy Weintraub, the director of student conduct and community standards, and Chicora Martin, the UO's then-assistant dean of students, who has since left for Mills College. Gottfredson resigned as president in August 2014 and is now a professor of criminology at UC Irvine.

In declining to charge the players with forcible rape, the Lane County district attorney's office wrote in April 2014 that "while there is no doubt the incidents occurred, the conflicting statements and actions by the victim make this case unprovable as a criminal case."

News of the lawsuit was first reported by ESPN.com.

Both Artis and Dotson continued to play after the alleged rape, and helped Oregon reach the round of 32 in the 2014 NCAA Tournament while being investigated by Eugene police.

When contacted by law enforcement after the incident, both Artis and Dotson told investigators the sex was consensual, a claim maintained in their current suit.

Two years after the alleged incident took place, the Ducks (28-6) found themselves in the spotlight for an unprecedented reason over the weekend when they earned, first the first time, one of four top seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Altman was named this season's Pac-12 coach of the year for the third time in four seasons.

Oregon opens the 68-team tournament Friday against the winner of Wednesday's play-in game between Southern and Holy Cross.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif