Academic lawsuits

[Dismal]

Now Litigious is furious and wants to sue Harry personally for targeting him and being responsible for his tenure denial.

Is this feasible? And/or can Litigious somehow sue Harry via a suit against the university? How would this play out?

Thanks for any insight you can give. Quite a situation may be developing.

I have been on the U committee that deals with tenure disputes and let me first say that one doesn't jump right into a lawsuit. There is something in law about the exhaustion of remedies and that means that you are supposed to go through the available procedural channels first. Need to go through the available process for challenging decisions on the basis of procedural error. This story has an added claim of retaliation, which if made will add to the process. You don't go to court until all the within-U steps have been followed.
However you can hire an attorney at any stage.  We have seen faculty spend $50k or more on legal fees to gain very little. Some take all the money out of retirement savings.