<p>A Clemson University student who was awarded $5.3 million after being falsely accused of sexual assault must continue to fight for his award money.</p>
<p>Andrew Pampu was awarded the money in April 2022 after he sued his accuser, Erin Wingo, her father, David, and her ex-boyfriend, Colin Gahagan, for defamation. But last month, South Carolina’s Court of Appeals <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/court-of-appeals/2025/6112.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">overturned</a> the ruling and set a dangerous precedent —that quasi-judicial campus tribunals carry the same weight as jury trials.</p>
<p>A jury unanimously agreed that Pampu had been defamed and ordered Erin to pay $700,000 in actual damages and $450,000 in punitive damages, her father to pay $230,000 in damages, and Gahagan to pay $700,000 in actual damages and $220,000 in punitive damages for defamation. Erin and Gahagan were also ordered to pay damages for civil conspiracy, with Erin ordered to pay $2 million in actual damages and Gahagan ordered to pay $1 million, Greenville News <a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2022/04/12/former-clemson-student-awarded-millions-defamation-lawsuit-appeal-filed-defendants/7225351001/">reported</a> in 2022.</p>
<p>The three appealed the ruling, even though the lawsuit kicked off after Gahagan admitted to Pampu that he had helped Wingo falsely accuse him.</p>
<p>“You’re innocent,” Gahagan wrote in a January 2017 text message, months after Pampu had been suspended from Clemson based on Wingo’s claims. “I lied in that hearing. Erin wanted to have sex that night. Get your brothers away from me and never touch your [sic] life again and I’ll come through with the truth that she lied. I deleted the texts from that night prove [sic] she was f****** crazy. You’re innocent. Just pull your f****** boys off me and never touch me again. It’s sad that you were like a brother to me and this happened[.] You’re innocent. Send this to your lawyer. Just don’t call me into the hearing and leave me alone. You’re welcome. That’s all I ask. You’re innocent bud.”</p>
<p>But the Court of Appeals overturned the unanimous jury ruling, in part by claiming the trial that led to the ruling was unnecessary because the case had already been litigated by Clemson University administrators.</p>
<p>This, despite the fact that campus tribunals provide little to no due process for accused students, including discovery or even the right to properly question their accuser and call witnesses. The Court claimed that “fundamental fairness requires the court to give preclusive effect to the administrative hearing board’s February 29, 2016, findings.”</p>
<p>One of Pampu’s attorneys, Kimberly Lau, blasted the court for its ruling.</p>
<p>“This ruling dangerously distorts the law and undermines the role of juries,” said Lau, who has been representing falsely accused students for more than a decade. “Andrew Pampu was defamed, denied due process, and suspended from Clemson based on false testimony. A jury heard all the facts and unanimously ruled in his favor. That justice has now been upended by a misapplied legal doctrine that values a flawed university proceeding over a full and fair trial.”</p>
<p>Pampu and his attorneys say they will continue to fight for justice following the disappointing ruling.</p>
<p>“After ten exhausting years, including seven spent defending myself and three more in the appellate process, I remain committed to standing up for the truth,” Pampu said. “When I received the favorable unanimous jury verdict in March 2022, I was overwhelmed with relief.”</p>
<p>“Since then, the case has continued through the courts, and while the recent appellate ruling is discouraging, I believe it raises serious questions about access to justice and the weight given to jury findings,” he added. “I will continue to stand up for what is right, not only for myself, but for anyone who finds themselves fighting to clear their name and move forward with their life.”</p>
<p>Pampu’s struggles began nearly a decade ago, in early September 2015, when Wingo pursued him for sexual activity leading up to a fraternity party where Gahagan, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, was ignoring her, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/he-was-accused-of-sexual-assault-by-a-woman-whose-boyfriend-later-admitted-lying-he-just-won-a-5-3m-settlement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Wingo propositioned Pampu and the two ended up having sex outside near a shed. Following the encounter, Wingo complained about Gahagan and ended up crying over him for the rest of the night, sending him numerous text messages.</p>
<p>The next morning, she texted Pampu to ask him not to tell Gahagan about their night together. When she admitted to Gahagan what she had done, she claimed not to remember most of the night, so Gahagan told her that if she couldn’t remember, it was rape. Even though Wingo clearly remembered the night in text messages to multiple people, she told investigators she didn’t, even deleting her text to Pampu. When Pampu showed the text to campus investigators, they ignored it.</p>
<p>Wingo didn’t report the alleged sexual assault to Clemson until two weeks after she and Pampu had engaged in sexual activity. Even though all sides were precluded from retaliation, Clemson allowed Gahagan to call Pampu a “rapist” around campus. Pampu also reported other incidents of harassment and retaliation by Gahagan and Wingo, all of which were ignored.</p>
<p>Given Clemson’s apparent bias even before the hearing, it was no surprise that Pampu was suspended. Months later, Gahagan admitted that it was all a lie. Gahagan also shared text messages between himself and a woman who knew Wingo’s father. Gahagan told the woman that Wingo had lied about being raped.</p>
<p>In addition to suing his accusers, Pampu also sued Clemson University, with whom he reached an undisclosed settlement in 2019.</p>

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‘Dangerous Precedent’: Court Sides With University Over Jury in False Rape Defamation Case