UCLA Sued in Federal Court

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Professor James Enstrom has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against UCLA in Los Angeles federal court, represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).

In his federal lawsuit against UCLA, epidemiologist James Enstrom claims he was vindictively terminated after exposing faulty environmental science and scientific misconduct at the University of California.

The lawsuit alleges that UCLA administrators "discriminated against Dr. Enstrom based on his ideological and political affiliations and sought to purge an academic dissenter from their ranks."

In other words, a termination due to political ideology.  Professor Enstrom was not "green" enough for the university's progressive sociopolitical agenda as he exposed "junk science" as a fraud used for political manipulation, purportedly.

"UCLA terminated a professor after 35 years of service simply because he exposed the truth about an activist scientific agenda that was not only based in fraud but violated California law for the sake of imposing expensive new environmental regulations on California businesses," said ACLJ Senior Counsel David French.

The federal lawsuit names the Regents of the University of California, as well as a number of top UCLA officials, as defendants.

The suit contends the university violated Dr. James Enstrom's constitutional rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Professor James Enstrom was the longtime employee in UCLA's Department of Environmental Health Sciences who published peer-reviewed research that concluded that fine particulate matter does not cause death to Californians.

A 2008 report by lead author Hien Tran ("Methodology for Estimating Premature Death Associated with Exposure to Fine Airborne Particulate Matter in California") was utilized to justify the need for a strict and expensive 'clean truck' strategy by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), strongly opposed by California businesses as too costly and cumbersome.

Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges that he exposed Hien Tran as a fake UC Davis doctoral graduate, who bought a phony Magna cum Laude Ph.D. for $1,000 from "Thornhill University," an online diploma mill.

Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges evidence of other UC professors' habitual exaggeration of the adverse health effects of diesel particulate matter in California.

According to Enstrom, the UC professors in question knew that their manipulated data would be utilized by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to justify strict and costly diesel vehicle regulations statewide.
  • Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges that he exposed so-called "activist" members of the CARB Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants who have exceeded their legally-mandated three-year term limits by many extra years.
  • Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges that shortly after Dr. Enstrom revealed fraud, data manipulation and general wrongdoing, UCLA gave Enstrom a notice of termination, then denied him pay for his work by draining his research funds.
  • Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges that he worked for more than a year without monetary compensation as he appealed his wrongful termination via procedures and avenues approved by UCLA.
  • Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges indignation that Hien Tran, the fake scientist with the phony doctoral degree, was only temporarily suspended for his deception while Enstrom was permanently fired for voicing the truth.
  • Dr. Enstrom's lawsuit alleges that UCLA refused to allow him to present his full case and UCLA officials put forward multiple and ever-changing grounds for his dismissal.
The complaint requests the court to declare that the actions taken by UCLA violated Dr. Enstrom's right to free speech on matters of public concern, along with his due process rights.

Further, the federal lawsuit requests an injunction requiring the University of California Los Angeles to rehire Dr. Enstrom, as well as monetary damages to be determined by a jury.

The University of California strongly disputes Enstrom's allegations and vows to fight the case in federal court, insisting:

"UCLA zealously protects the intellectual independence of members of our academic community and has long maintained that Enstrom's political and scientific views and outside activities were not considered during his reappointment process."

The following video explains a great deal more about the situation between UCLA and Professor Enstrom in the name of environmentalism.

Dr. James Enstrom vs. UCLA