Suing ex-professor found in contempt

RENO -- A Nevada professor who alleges he was fired earlier this month in retaliation for blowing the whistle on animal abuse at campus research farms has been found in contempt of federal court and ordered to pay a $25,500 fine.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan ordered Hussein S. Hussein and his lawyer, Jeffrey Dickerson, to pay the money to the Reno law firm that has been representing the University of Nevada, Reno in lawsuits since Hussein first complained to federal authorities about abuse of university research animals in 2004.

The two are appealing contempt order, issued March 28, to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Dickerson said Wednesday.

As of last summer, the university had been named as a defendant in 11 lawsuits Dickerson has filed on behalf of Hussein, an animal nutritionist. A federal investigation sparked by Hussein's complaints concluded in 2005 that the university mistreated research animals, and the school agreed to pay an $11,400 fine to settle the case.

Mahan said that when Hussein and Dickerson filed their 12th and 13th lawsuits in the fall, they were in contempt of an injunction by the court in July to prevent the filing of future "vexatious" litigation.

The judge said the injunction was issued because the lawsuits already had overlapping claims. He said the two most recent lawsuits were an attempt to "relitigate" claims that have been dismissed.

"The harm from Dr. Hussein's and Mr. Dickerson's willful noncompliance with the injunction extends not only to defendants but to the judicial system as a whole," Mahan wrote in an April 4 opinion.

He ordered the fine to cover fees and costs incurred by the law firm McDonald Carano Wilson, LLP, but agreed to stay that order after Hussein posted a bond with the court pending appeal.

UNR President Milton Glick fired Hussein on April 10 and banned him from campus. Hussein plans to file an appeal of the decision with the Board of Regents this week to be heard at its June 12 meeting.