A years‑long legal battle involving Paige Patterson, former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president, and a former student who accused him and the institution of defamation following her reports of sexual assault has ended in a confidential settlement just days before trial, according to court filings and reporting from The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star‑Telegram.
Court records filed Thursday, July 16, show that Patterson, the seminary, and the former student—identified in filings as Jane Roe—jointly agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, preventing it from being refiled. Roe’s attorney, Sheila Haddock, told The Dallas Morning News the matter was “amicably resolved” shortly before jury selection was set to begin next week.
“Southwestern Seminary is grateful that this matter has been amicably resolved for all involved,” the seminary said in a statement, adding that it has “consistently denied any liability or wrongdoing.”
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, stemmed from Roe’s allegations that she was raped multiple times between 2014 and 2015 by a fellow student she met while he was employed as a campus plumber. According to the Star‑Telegram, Roe said the man pursued her aggressively, threatened her with a gun, and later forced his way into her home. She reported the assaults to Patterson in August 2015, but said he told her he was “too busy” to address the report.
Patterson—an influential figure in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) “conservative resurgence” and president of Southwestern Seminary from 2003 to 2018—was fired in 2018 after allegations surfaced that he mishandled sexual‑abuse reports at both Southwestern and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
A 2022 independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions found that Patterson wrote in a 2015 email that he intended to meet with Roe to “break her down,” a detail cited in The Dallas Morning News coverage.
Roe’s lawsuit alleged that Patterson and the seminary defamed her after donors circulated a 2018 letter opposing Patterson’s firing that suggested she fabricated her assault. Only one defamation claim against Patterson remained active after a federal judge dismissed the seminary as a defendant last year.
Patterson has consistently denied wrongdoing. In a 2018 letter quoted by Baptist Press, he wrote, “I take exception to accusations that I ever knowingly ignored or failed to follow appropriate protocols in cases of reported abuse.” His attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from either newspaper.
The man Roe accused of rape was expelled from the seminary and never prosecuted; he died in 2018, according to reporting from the Houston Chronicle.
The settlement arrives amid broader scrutiny of the Southern Baptist Convention’s handling of sexual‑abuse allegations. A 2019 Houston Chronicle investigation identified more than 700 victims across SBC churches over two decades, and the Department of Justice concluded a federal investigation into SBC abuse last year, resulting in one conviction of a former Southwestern Seminary administrator.
Haddock said Roe will remain anonymous under an existing confidentiality order and will not comment further on the resolution.
Related:
Accreditation warning extended for Southwestern Seminary through 2025
Southern Baptist official says federal probe of church abuse allegations closed, no charges expected
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