The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

About The Volokh Conspiracy Editorial Independence Who we are Books Volokh Daily Email Archives Search DMCA RSS

Free Speech

Pennsylvania Sen. Douglas Mastriano's Lawsuit Related to His Ph.D. Mostly Thrown Out

An academic fight wasn't a RICO or antitrust violation, but a false light claim can still go forward.

Eugene Volokh | 9.24.2026 8:01 AM

Sgt. York; thanks to Wikipedia for the image.

From Judge Bernard Jones (W.D. Okla.) yesterday in Mastriano v. Gregory:

According to Plaintiff:

This is an action for damages arising from Defendants' coordinated efforts of fraud, defamation, and anti-competitive conduct designed to destroy Plaintiff's academic reputation, eliminate him as a competitor in the market for World War I military history and scholarship, and interfere with his political campaigns for public office.

In the SAC [Second Amended Complaint], Plaintiff alleges he is a retired United States Army colonel, a recipient in 2013 of a Ph.D. in United States military history from the University of New Brunswick (UNB), a former Army War College professor, a published author of books on Sergeant Alvin York (Sgt. York) and World War I as fought in France, and a public speaker on military history. Plaintiff also alleges he is a current state senator for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's 33rd District, was the 2022 Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, and according to Plaintiff, "was considered the frontrunner for the 2024 U.S. Senate seat." …

Gregory was a graduate student and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oklahoma. Gregory is one of several historians who assert that Sgt. York's role in the capture of German soldiers was exaggerated, in direct contrast to Plaintiff's position regarding Sgt. York's role. Gregory has written a book, Unraveling the Myth of Sgt. Alvin York: The Other Sixteen, describing the soldiers who fought alongside Sgt. York but whose contributions are largely absent from the historical account Plaintiff and others popularized.

While conducting his research, Gregory identified what he believed were numerous errors in Plaintiff's scholarship and reported 213 alleged inaccuracies to Plaintiff's publisher and UNB in 2021 and 2022. When Plaintiff ran for governor of Pennsylvania in 2022, the media covered Gregory's reports of inaccuracies and his opinion that the large number of inaccuracies suggest academic fraud….

The court rejected Plaintiff's RICO claim:

… Plaintiff alleges RICO violations based upon Gregory's complaints regarding errors in Plaintiff's PhD dissertation, UNB's release and investigation of Plaintiff's embargoed dissertation during the time Plaintiff was running for election for governor of Pennsylvania, Defendants' discussions and criticism of Plaintiff's dissertation to the press, and Gregory's contact with the publisher of Plaintiff's books questioning Plaintiff's research and thesis. "To state a RICO claim, a plaintiff must allege that the defendant violated the substantive RICO statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1962, by setting forth four elements: (1) conduct (2) of an enterprise (3) through a........

© Reason.com