A federal court dismissed claims against donors to watchdog StopAntisemitism and other pro-Israel groups in a lawsuit brought by a former Emory University professor and physician and ordered her lawyer to pay $6,000 for pursuing a frivolous conspiracy claim.
Abeer AbouYabis, a Palestinian Muslim hematologist fired in November 2023, alleged that the highly ranked private school in the Atlanta area discriminated against her after she made anti-Israel social media posts. She accused the pro-Israel groups, physicians and donors of coordinating a campaign to get her fired.
The court dismissed all claims against the donors on Sept. 17, stating that it lacked jurisdiction over them. It also dismissed the federal civil rights conspiracy claim.
In an order on Wednesday, Christopher Bly, a federal magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, ruled that the complaint offered no facts showing the donors agreed with Emory to violate the rights of AbouYabis.
“In other words, the organization allegedly gave money to causes that plaintiff, or her counsel, dislikes,” the judge wrote. “That is not evidence of a conspiracy to deprive plaintiff of her civil rights, and it does not belong in a complaint.”
Bly ordered the attorney Abdel-Rahman Hamed to pay the sanction, finding that he continued pursuing the donor claims despite repeated warnings.
Some employment claims remain pending. “The court does not find that this lawsuit as a whole was frivolous,” Bly wrote.
