Overview
- A Suffolk County jury ruled Friday that Kristin Knouse defamed David Sabatini and ordered $6 million in damages for defamation and tortious interference.
- The verdict follows a 2021 Whitehead Institute finding that Sabatini violated the institute’s workplace relationship policy and was removed from his lab.
- Jurors reached their decision after a three-week civil trial in Boston that featured extensive, conflicting testimony and a large trove of text messages exchanged between the two scientists.
- Knouse had accused Sabatini of coercing a nonconsensual relationship and fostering a sexualized lab culture while Sabatini said their relationship was consensual and sued the institute after his ouster.
- The ruling resolves this phase of a yearslong legal battle but could trigger further legal or institutional steps and has intensified discussion about oversight, boundaries, and power in top-tier research groups.