Complaint against IU Kelley students, professor seeks over  billion in damages

Complaint against IU Kelley students, professor seeks over $2 billion in damages

Two Indiana residents filed a complaint Monday seeking more than $2 billion in damages against an IU professor, five former Kelley School of Business master’s students and real estate developer Discovery Land.

Students took a course at Kelley in fall 2021 that focused on analyzing and providing feedback on a golf resort in Puerto Rico developed by the World Trade Center San Juan. The complaint alleges that the former students violated a nondisclosure agreement about the resort’s business plan by sharing it with a competitor, Discovery Land.

The complaint states that two of the students had a personal connection to Discovery Land, including access to its CEO. Another student had ties to the professional golf community.

The plaintiffs allege that the class’s professor had a duty to communicate to the class the confidentiality of the project and to identify potential conflicts of interest.

Additionally, the professor’s actions were outside the scope of his employment, the complaint says, and he had no authority to bind the university.

After the students communicated with Discovery Land, the company convinced the Puerto Rican Local Redevelopment Authority to violate its agreement with the World Trade Center San Juan to use land for the resort, the complaint says.

According to the lawsuit, Discovery Land used the partnerships that World Trade Center Puerto Rico was developing to steal its business model without contacting them to buy the idea or working with them.

According to a press release, the class action lawsuit stated that profits from the plaintiffs’ business plan would exceed $1 billion to $2 billion.

“It is rare for a lawsuit to be filed in which the defendants have already determined the value of damages to the plaintiffs,” plaintiffs’ attorney Paul Jefferson said in the news release. “But that’s exactly what the Kelley School of Business has done here. We look forward to a fair resolution of this case.”

According to the statement, the plaintiffs are the owners of the World Trade Center San Juan, Tim and Doris Anne Sadler. Tim Sadler graduated from IU in 1992 and so did they Presidents Circle Donor at IU, said family spokesman Michael Murphy.

A representative for Discovery Land did not immediately comment.

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