Lawsuit: Prairie View A&M teacher offered sex for better grade

PRAIRIE VIEW, TX (KTRK) -- It happens all the time. You work hard, but you still fall behind in class. It's what happened to one Prairie View A&M university student.

But then, she says, things took a turn. Now, she is alleging in a lawsuit against her former professor that he pressured her for sex in exchange for an A.

"I was depressed in the beginning," said Lisa Mims, the plaintiff.

During the winter of 2013, Mims was about to fail her computer science class.

In her statement to police, she says she met with her professor, 76-year-old J.D. Oliver, several times about her grade. In one meeting, Mims alleges Oliver cornered her and squeezed her breast and said he would give her an A if she met him at a hotel.

"He wasn't going to give me a grade unless I showed up at the hotel and had sex with him," said Mims.

But Oliver claims he was at the hotel because his carpets were being cleaned at home and that he needed a place to grade papers. In a statement to police, Oliver said he had loaned Mims a textbook and knew the hotel was a close place for her to return it.

Mims showed up at Best Western at his invitation, but brought along her boyfriend and two other male friends. Mims said when they confronted him, Oliver asked what he could do to make this go away.

"He was close to retirement. He wanted to have his last big fling before leaving school," said Jerold Friedman, Mims' attorney.

But Oliver's lawyers said none of this is true.

"We think that a jury will after hearing the evidence will rule in our client's favor," said Debra Jennings, Oliver's lead attorney.

After Mims and her friends left, Oliver filed a police report, saying he had been robbed of his phone, cash and credit cards, and his car keys. He also claimed Mims had wanted $9,000 from him.

Mims was no billed by a grand jury on this robbery charge.

Since then, the university has conducted its own investigation, found Mims' allegations substantiated and fired Oliver. Oliver appealed his dismissal.

"This has been a burden on him, not only on him but his wife," said Barbara Hudson, also an attorney for Oliver. "You can imagine the toll it's taken on his health."

Mims' lawyer said the school opened a criminal investigation on Oliver for abuse of his public position, but PVAM University has refused to comment on anything surrounding pending litigation.

Oliver's lawyer said they filed a sealed lawsuit first against Mims, meaning they can't reveal the details because of its sensitive nature.

Mims' lawyer says they have not been served yet.

Mims filed her lawsuit about five days later, but her lawyer says he had first alerted Oliver of the pending lawsuit weeks before.