U. theater student's lawyer wants trial in 2005

A jury trial in a former University of Utah theater student's lawsuit against the school's theater department is likely more than a year away.

Attorneys for Christina Axson-Flynn told U.S. District Judge Dee Benson on Thursday they needed that much time to prepare their case. The case is expansive, attorney Jim McConkie said, and will likely require 25 depositions and 100 interrogatories. The standard in civil cases is 10 and 25, respectively.

McConkie said August 2005 would be his ideal time to try the case, which is expected to take at least one week. Assistant Attorney General Alain Balmanno agreed summer would be least disruptive to the theater professors and students who are expected to testify, though he said he would prefer getting the case before a jury this summer.

"I'm ready to go to trial now," Balmanno said.

Benson did not set a trial date at Thursday's status conference. He instead instructed both sides to agree on a schedule for all pretrial matters, which would help determine whether an earlier trial is possible.

Axson-Flynn sued the U.'s Actor Training Program in 2000, claiming professors violated her free-speech rights, as well as her rights to free exercise of religion, after they refused to allow her to omit profanity from an in-class performance. A devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Axson-Flynn claims she told officials she would not take the name of God in vain or use certain expletives prior to her acceptance into the nationally ranked program.

The suit was originally dismissed by U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell, but the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals resurrected the case earlier this year when it overturned Campbell's ruling.

Campbell recused herself from the case following the 10th Circuit's reversal, and it was reassigned to Benson.

McConkie has said he may amend the lawsuit to include other students who also allegedly suffered religious discrimination at the U. He said Thursday that is still a possibility, as is simply calling those students to bolster Axson-Flynn's claims at trial.

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E-mail: awelling@desnews.com