Actually, I'm confused a little about using this condition here:
$auth->cur_user->user_rights & RIGHT_PROJECT_ASSIGN
May be this solution will be more logical:

from db\class_person.inc.php

    public function getProjects($f_order_by=NULL, $f_status_min=STATUS_UPCOMING, $f_status_max= STATUS_COMPLETED)
    {
        ...
        ### all projects ###
        if ($auth->cur_user->user_rights & RIGHT_VIEWALL) {
        ...