Doe v. Claiborne County, Tenn. By and Through Claiborne County Bd. of Educ.
| Decision Date | 26 December 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-5050,95-5050 |
| Citation | 103 F.3d 495 |
| Parties | 115 Ed. Law Rep. 265, 46 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 201 Jane DOE and Janet Doe, Individually, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CLAIBORNE COUNTY, TENNESSEE, by and through the CLAIBORNE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION; and Dennis L. Peters; Roy L. Norris; Charles Randall Burchette; Bobby Williams; Dr. Roy Ellis, Jr.; J.P. Barnard; Lynn S. Barnard; in their individual and official capacities; and Sam Widener; Don Dobbs, and James Leonard Bundren, in their official capacities only, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Don C. Stansberry, Jr., Michael B. Kinnard, P. Edward Pratt (argued and briefed), Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell, Knoxville, TN, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
James D. Estep, III, Estep & Estep, Tazewell, TN, Donald D. Howell (argued and briefed), Frantz, McConnell & Seymour, Knoxville, TN, for Claiborne County, Tenn.
Frank Q. Vettori (briefed), O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Pamela L. Reeves (argued and briefed), Watson, Hollow & Reeves, Knoxville, TN, for Claiborne County Bd. of Educ.
Pamela L. Reeves, Watson, Hollow & Reeves, Knoxville, TN, for Dennis L. Peters, Don Dobbs, Roy Norris.
Frank Q. Vettori, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, Knoxville, TN, for Sam Widener, Bobby Williams, J.P. Barnard, Randy Burchette.
Frank Q. Vettori, O'Neil, Parker & Williamson, William F. Alley, Jr. (briefed), Hodges, Doughty & Carson, Knoxville, TN, for Jeffrey S. Davis, Roy Ellis, Jr., Dr.
Elizabeth Adair Townsend (briefed), Baker, McReynolds, Byrne, Brackett, O'Kane & Shea, Knoxville, TN, for James L. Bundren, Lynn S. Barnard.
Before KRUPANSKY, RYAN, and NORRIS, Circuit Judges.
NORRIS, J. (p. 516), delivered a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Plaintiff, Jane Doe, brought this civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Claiborne County, Tennessee, the Claiborne County Board of Education, and several School Board members and school administrators in both their individual and official capacities. She alleges that she suffered damages as a result of being sexually harassed, abused, and ultimately statutorily raped by a school teacher, Jeffrey Davis, when she was a student. Doe also sued the County and the School Board for sexual harassment, in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-88, and brought a variety of state tort claims. 1
The district court dismissed Doe's section 1983 claims, concluding that she presented no facts that showed defendants were deliberately indifferent to her constitutional right to bodily integrity. The court excluded Doe's "notice" evidence, which was crucial to her claims. Finally, the court dismissed Doe's Title IX sexual harassment claim against the County and the School Board on the grounds that Title VII agency principles do not apply to Title IX actions, and because Title IX does not reach the County. For the reasons explained below, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
At the time of the sexual abuse, Jane Doe was fourteen years old and a freshman at Claiborne County High School (CCHS), from which she graduated in 1994. Jeffrey Davis was a physical education teacher and coach at Soldiers Memorial Middle School (SMMS), and was the coach for the CCHS boys' baseball team. Before being hired for this position for the 1990-91 school year, Davis had been employed by the School Board as a boys' physical education teacher and basketball coach at Midway School from 1987 to 1990.
Doe first met Davis during the spring of 1991 when she became a scorekeeper for the boys' baseball team. As a scorekeeper, she was required to travel by bus to the games with the team and the coach, Davis. Davis began systematically abusing and harassing Doe during these bus trips. At the team's first away trip, Doe sat next to Davis, who reached inside her blouse and fondled her breasts. She was "surprised" and "paralyzed" by the incident. She avoided Davis for the rest of the school year.
At the beginning of the 1992 school year, Davis started harassing Doe with telephone calls. He called her and asked her whether she would like to be the scorekeeper at the next boys' basketball game. Although nervous about riding with Davis on the bus once again, she acceded to his request. During the bus trip, Davis fondled her breasts for the second time. Davis then began telephoning Doe at home on a regular basis. He persuaded her to reciprocate the phone calls, but instructed her to call only when Davis's wife would not be home. The telephone conversations continued through the holiday break.
In January 1992, and for reasons not important to this litigation, Doe moved into her aunt's home. Davis persisted in telephoning Doe, increasing the calls to a daily basis. On one occasion, Davis kissed Doe on the mouth in the coaches' office at SMMS. On Valentine's Day 1992, Davis gave her a ring, and later the same month he suggested that they have sexual intercourse. Shortly after this proposal, during another bus trip, Davis touched Doe's vagina through her pants and made her touch his penis, also through his pants. One month later, Davis told Doe that he loved her.
In late March 1992, Davis took Doe to a trailer that belonged to friends of his and had sexual intercourse with her for the first time. This was Doe's first sexual experience and she suffered vaginal bleeding. They had sexual intercourse on five other occasions. Throughout these sexual encounters, Davis and Doe continued their phone conversations, and Davis continued fondling Doe during bus trips.
The systematic sexual abuse of Doe came to an end in December 1992, when two of her aunts discovered her in Davis's home while his wife was away at the hospital giving birth to their child. Prior to that time, she never reported to anyone her ongoing relationship with Davis. Davis was subsequently charged with six counts of statutory rape and he tendered an Alford 2 plea to one count. Doe has been in psychological counseling since 1993.
Doe sued Claiborne County "by and through" the Claiborne County Board of Education, Davis, and ten other defendants. She sued the following seven defendants in both their individual and official capacities: Dennis Peters, superintendent of schools until 1990 and principal of CCHS from 1990 to 1992; Roy Norris, superintendent of schools from 1990 to 1992; Bobby Williams, Chairman of the School Board; Charles Randall Burchette, Roy Ellis, and J.P. Barnard, members of the School Board; and Lynn Barnard, principal of SMMS. She also sued the following three defendants in their official capacities only: Sam Widener, member of the County Board of Education; Don Dobbs, interim superintendent of schools; and James Bundren, principal of Midway School.
Bundren was the principal of Midway School when Davis was first accused of misconduct. In the fall of 1989, while Davis was employed as a physical education teacher and the boys' basketball coach, the grandfather of an eighth-grade student contacted Bundren to complain about Davis touching his granddaughter in an inappropriate way, by placing his hand under her blouse. Bundren immediately called a meeting with Davis; Davis's supervisor, Dennis Peters, who was the superintendent at the time; the grandfather; and the girl's mother. At the conclusion of this meeting the girl's mother was satisfied by Davis's explanation that nothing inappropriate had taken place, but in a follow-up conversation, she related to Bundren that she was considering referring the charge to the Department of Human Services (DHS) for investigation. In the meantime, Bundren advised Davis "not to be so friendly with [the] students." Bundren reported the results of the meeting to Widener, a member of the County Board of Education, and placed notes of the meeting in Davis's personnel file.
In January 1990, just a few months after the incident involving the eighth-grade student, DHS notified Peters that the agency had received information that Davis allegedly had sexually abused nine different girls at Midway School. In a letter to Peters, DHS stated that it was giving
official notice that [DHS] is currently investigating reports of child sexual abuse molestation [sic] involving Jeff Davis of Midway School and several students in the Claiborne County School System.
This preliminary information is being passed on to you as Mr. Davis still has access to children in his role as an educator.
This letter is not meant to imply guilt or innocence but to inform you that an investigation is currently underway.
Additional information will be provided to you after the completion of the investigation.
Two months after sending this letter, DHS sent Peters another letter informing him that Davis was still under investigation, that Davis had been informed of the ongoing investigation, that the information was confidential, and that "immediate action" needed to be taken to ensure that Davis would have "no access to or contact with any child" until further notice because he was named an alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse. Midway School promptly removed Davis from student contact and placed him in the school's bus garage for the remainder of the school year. Davis was not rehired when the Board made its hiring decisions for the 1990-91 school year.
When Davis received the letter from DHS, he contacted Williams to inform him of the investigation. Peters, in turn, informed Widener and Bundren of the investigation, and Bundren discussed the matter with Widener.
Shortly thereafter, DHS concluded its investigation and informed Peters that it had determined that four of the nine allegations of child sexual abuse were "founded." Peters...
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