In Doe v. Univ. of Michigan, decided last Thursday by Judge Shalina Kumar (E.D. Mich.), Doe claimed that, when she was a "a nineteen-year-old student at Michigan State University," she met Dr. Schoenfeld, "a forty-nine-year-old gastroenterologist at the University" of Michigan "through an online website where they each sought a personal relationship." (Michiganders of all institutional loyalties will appreciate that the two universities are not the same.) According to Schoenfeld's filing in a related defamation suit he filed against Doe in California, the site was SeekingArrangement.com, and "Seeking Arrangement's advertised purpose was facilitating relationships between younger 'sugar babies' and more established 'sugar daddies.'"
From the Court's summary of the facts and alleged facts,
Doe hoped to attend medical school. Doe and Schoenfeld entered a "mentoring relationship with intimacy," in which Schoenfeld would pay Doe $1250 per month and help her attain her goal of attending medical school, and Doe would have sex with Schoenfeld and "maintain her appearance." Over the course of this relationship, Doe alleges Schoenfeld subjected her to sexual violence and abused her. Their sexual relationship lasted a few months, from February 2013 to May 2013. But Schoenfeld continued mentoring Doe so that she could one day gain admission to the University's medical school.
