Vivian Sanks-King, whom the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey ousted as general counsel in 2005 to avoid a criminal prosecution, has no viable discrimination claim, a state appeals court says.

Her forced resignation was a condition of a deferred-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which amounted to a "legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason," the Appellate Division held Thursday in Sanks-King v. UMDNJ, A-3050-11.