BOSTON -- College students who are upset over a bad grade normally take their complaints to their professors, but one University of Massachusetts student in Amherst took his fight to court.

Brian Marquis, 51, a paralegal seeking bachelor's degrees in legal studies and sociology, said he should never have received a grade of "C" in political philosophy.

He said he earned an A-minus, but because he was graded on a curve it was brought down to a C, according to the Boston Globe.

Marquis filed a 15-count lawsuit in federal court in January, claiming that the university violated his civil rights and intentionally inflicted emotional distress, but District Court Judge Michael A. Ponsor dismissed the case.

Marquis is now considering an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

A UMass ombudsman said she thought it was the first lawsuit filed against the university over a grade.

One of the chief targets of Marquis' lawsuit is the graduate student teaching assistant who gave him the grade, Jeremy Cushing.