Trial next step for professor’s civil rights suits

RENO -- A judge has paved the way for a University of Nevada, Reno professor's two civil rights lawsuits against the university to go to trial.

In his complaints, animal nutrition researcher Hussein S. Hussein claims that UNR retaliated against him after he complained to federal authorities about abuse of university research animals in 2004.

U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan on Thursday denied UNR's motion for summary judgment in the lawsuits filed by Hussein. Last week, Mahan denied Hussein's motion for summary judgment of UNR's countersuit.

Unless the orders are appealed, the court will schedule the lawsuits for trial.

"We waited an enormous amount of time to get this far," Hussein's lawyer, Jeff Dickerson, said. "We're looking forward to getting this case in front of a jury, hopefully before the end of the year."