by Katy Knapp
Daily Lobo
Pharmacy student Michael Gallegos is suing the University for more than $50,000 after being held back a semester.
Gallegos, who doesn't have an attorney, filed an objection to a summary judgment request from the University on Wednesday.
The request states Gallegos doesn't have a chance of winning the trial, therefore the case should be thrown out. A summary judgment would allow the judge to look at evidence and make a decision without a hearing.
Gallegos is suing the University for $48,720 in lost wages and $3,000 for tuition he paid for the extra semester he had to take. He also might seek undetermined punitive damages for pain and suffering.
"I've been a wreck," he said, adding he has been treated for anxiety.
Gallegos said he would have received his certification in May if he had not been held back, which would have allowed him to enter the work force and make a pharmacist's wages. Instead, he will be receiving his certificate in December.
"I had job offers lined up where I'd be making $43.50 an hour, with 40-hour workweeks," he said, which over seven months adds up to $48,720.
He lost a case against the University in August 2004 for breach of contract when he claimed he was wrongfully held back a semester. He is $17,000 in debt from court and lawyer fees because of that trial, he said.
Gallegos was seeking a temporary restraining order that would allow him to move into his fourth year of the program without retaking a course he made a D in.
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The college's policy states students who receive Ds in two classes have to be held back and retake the course in which they received their second D.
However, three other students in his class who received two D grades were allowed to continue.
Gallegos said he was treated unfairly.
John Pieper, dean of the College of Pharmacy, told the court those three students made D-pluses, and it was up to the instructors of the course to determine what a D-plus was.
"All three of the cases that I overturned, those students have had one or two D-pluses," he said in the court transcript. "And I am convinced that there are significant differences in competency between somebody with a D and somebody with a D-minus."
Pieper said in his testimony Gallegos could have appealed the decision made by the college to the provost of the UNM. Students have done that in the past, he said.
"I do not know if he (Gallegos) availed himself of that opportunity or not," he said in his testimony.
Gallegos said he sent a letter to Amy Wohlert, associate provost for Academic Affairs, who told him she didn't want to step in because she didn't have any real power over the College of Pharmacy's decision. He didn't take it any further than that.
"She said she had no power, so I figured the guy above her didn't either," he said.
Sam Giammo, spokesman for the Health Sciences Center, said since the case is still in litigation, neither Pieper nor the department can comment.
Melanie Baise, who works for the UNM counsel office representing UNM and Pieper, also said she could not comment.
Court documents filed in March from UNM stated Gallegos failed to prove breach of contract in the original hearing.
"They are saying that no matter what I do, there is not enough evidence for me to push forward," Gallegos said about the University's request for summary judgment. "With case precedents that are in place, there's no chance I can win."
If no money is rewarded in the trial, Gallegos would be fine with that, he said.
"I'm not really in it for money," he said. "I'm in it for justice."
