School Liability
Confidential RECOVERY – Failure to adequately supervise – Failure to adequately train – Sexual abuse by Jr. High School teacher – PTSD.
Monmouth County
This case involved an infant plaintiff who contended that during eighth grade, the defendant Jr. High School teacher began showing unusual attention toward her. No sexual contact occurred during her eighth grade year. The plaintiff maintained that in the summer, she was at the school and the teacher brought her into the band room where sexual contact occurred. The plaintiff contended that these incidents continued when she commenced high school, and the teacher would periodically pick her up from school and bring her back to the middle school where such sexual contact continued. The evidence disclosed that on one occasion, two other students saw the teacher pick the infant plaintiff up at high school, observed them kissing, and advised the high school principal. The teacher was convicted of crimes relating to the incidents and is currently serving time in prison.
The plaintiff contended that the defendant Board of Education failed to adequately supervise the teacher, enabling the abuse to continue during the infant plaintiff’s ninth grade year. The defendant Board of Education maintained that, it provided adequate supervision, had a policy of having a teacher patrol the halls and that a student could not be alone with a teacher unless the door to the room was open.
The defendant Board of Education would have also pointed out that the incidents occurred after school hours. The plaintiff would have countered that the defendant retained control over the building and that its duty extended to this time. The plaintiff would have also stressed that the defendant Board of Education had a duty of in loco parentis and that had it exercised this responsibility properly, the incidents would not have continued.
The plaintiff would have presented several students who would have testified that rumors about the relationship had been spoken about for some time. The defendant Board of Education would have countered through the presentation of several teachers who would have denied that such rumors existed.
The case against the Board of Education settled prior to trials for Confidential. The plaintiff also named the teacher, who apparently has assets, as a defendant and the plaintiff contended that the Board of Education’s liability rest in its own failure to provide adequate supervision and training, and is not based on vicarious liability for the teacher’s actions.
Reference
Plaintiff student vs. Defendant Board of Education. Docket no.: MON-L-489-06, 9-29-10. Attorney for Plaintiff, Frank S. Gaudio, The Law Office of Miller & Gaudio PC in Red Bank.
