Hackett v. Fulton County School Dist.

• Decision Date: 12 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A.1:01-CV-0233-J.,CIV.A.1:01-CV-0233-J.
• Citation: 238 F.Supp.2d 1330
• Parties: Melvin HACKETT, Plaintiff, v. FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia

238 F.Supp.2d 1330

Melvin HACKETT, Plaintiff, v. FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., Defendants.

No. CIV.A.1:01-CV-0233-J.

United States District Court, N.D. Georgia, Atlanta Division.

August 12, 2002.

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George O. Lawson, Jr., Lawson & Thornton, Atlanta, GA, Lisa Reid Roberts, Lisa R. Roberts & Assocs., Newnan, GA, for Plaintiff.

Judith A. O'Brien, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, Atlanta, GA, William J. Stemberger, Knight Stemberger & Gomez, Newnan, GA, for Defendant.

ORDER

CARNES, District Judge.

The above-captioned action is before the Court on plaintiff's partial Motion for Summary Judgment [34], defendants Fulton County School District and Marquis Jones's Motion for Summary Judgment [35], and defendants Fulton County School District and Marquis Jones's Notice of Objection and Motion to Strike Affidavits [44].

The Court has reviewed the record and the arguments of the parties and, for the reasons set forth below, concludes that plaintiff's partial Motion for Summary Judgment [34] should be GRANTED, defendants Fulton County School District and Marquis Jones's Motion for Summary Judgment [35] should be GRANTED, and defendants Fulton County School District and Marquis Jones's Notice of Objection and Motion to Strike Affidavits [44] should be DENIED.

FACTS

This case involves improper conduct by a high school teacher towards the plaintiff, one of his former students. Plaintiff Melvin Hackett is a 1999 graduate of Westlake High School in Fulton County, Georgia, where defendant William Kreil was a science teacher at the time plaintiff attended the school. When plaintiff was in the eleventh grade, during the 1997-1998 school year, defendant Kreil arranged for plaintiff and other students to come to his home on several occasions under the pretense of a bogus "scholarship program." One evening, when plaintiff was at defendant Kreil's home, the plaintiff was told he would be taking part in an experiment that required him to disrobe, put on a blindfold, and allow himself to be touched by an unknown person.

Although the plaintiff told no one about this experience at the time, defendant Kreil's bogus "scholarship program" and his inappropriate conduct towards students was brought to the attention of administrators, who later conducted an investigation into Kreil's conduct. Defendant Kreil ultimately resigned his position at Westlake and pled guilty to three separate criminal charges, including sexual assault against a person in custody, and is currently serving his sentence at Arrendale State Prison in Alto, Georgia.

Plaintiff filed the Complaint in this action on January 26, 2001. He has asserted claims under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq., ("Title IX"); 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("Section 1983"); and state law claims of negligence, negligent hiring, retention, and supervision, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment, against Fulton County School District, Marquis Jones, individually and in his official capacity as Principal of Westlake High School, and William Kreil, individually and in his official capacity as a teacher at Westlake High School. Plaintiff claims that defendant Kreil, acting under color of state law, violated his constitutional and statutory rights, and that Principal Jones and the Fulton County School District were aware of defendant Kreil's improper conduct towards students but acted with deliberate indifference to the plaintiff's rights in failing to prevent Kreil's conduct toward the plaintiff.

Unless otherwise indicated, the Court draws the undisputed facts from Defendants' "Statement of Undisputed Material Facts" ("SMF") [35]. If, however, plaintiff has disputed any of those facts, the Court has viewed all evidence and factual inferences in the light most favorable to plaintiff, as required on a defendant's motion for summary judgment. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); McCabe v. Sharrett, 12 F.3d 1558, 1560 (11th Cir.1994); Reynolds v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 989 F.2d 465, 469 (11th Cir.1993). Accordingly, the following facts are viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, and are assumed true only for the purposes of this discussion.

From 1995 through 1999, the plaintiff, Melvin Hackett, was a student in the math and science magnet program at Westlake High School, which is part of the Fulton County School District. (SMF at ¶ 1.) On or about May 10, 1995, defendant William Kreil applied for employment with the Fulton County School District, and was hired to be a science teacher at Westlake High School. (Id. at ¶¶ 2-3.) When he applied for employment, Kreil submitted a packet of information including an application, three references, his college and graduate school transcripts, his Louisiana and Georgia teaching certificates, his test scores, and an explanation of two incidents that he believed would appear on any criminal investigation report.¹ (Id. at ¶ 4.) Kreil's application was reviewed and he was interviewed for a position at Westlake High School. (Id. at ¶ 5.) After a hire recommendation was received from the principal, Kreil's application was reviewed again, the school district obtained additional references, confirmed Kreil's teaching certifications, and ran a criminal background check. (Id. at ¶ 5.)

Although the school district's background check did not reveal any previous charges or allegations against Kreil for misconduct involving students, there is no dispute that defendant Kreil failed to provide a complete and accurate picture of his employment history on his employment application with FCSD, and that he failed to disclose that he had been asked to resign from teaching positions at several schools in both Louisiana and Georgia because of allegations of improper conduct with minor students. (See Kreil Dep. at 5-45; Pl.'s Resp. To Defs. SMF ["Pl. SMF"] [38] at ¶ 4.) It is further undisputed, however, that, at the time Kreil was hired to teach at Westlake, FCSD was not aware that Kreil had been accused of improper conduct toward students in the past. (Defs. Reply to Pl. SMF [43] at ¶ 3.) The plaintiff contends, however, that the defendants failed to conduct a more thorough investigation of Kreil's background, and that, had they done so, their investigation might have revealed that Kreil had failed to disclose an accurate picture of his employment history and had failed to disclose that he had been accused of misconduct toward students in the past. (Pl. SMF [38] at ¶¶ 4-5.)

Plaintiff had defendant Kreil as his science teacher at Westlake H.S. in the ninth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. (SMF at ¶ 3.) In June, 1997, an incident involving Kreil was reported to school officials by another student. (Id. at ¶ 6.) Specifically, the student alleged that Kreil had asked her to make a telephone call to another teacher at the school, Todd Green, and to tell Green that if Green did not assist Kreil as he had promised, that Kreil might commit suicide. (Id. at ¶ 6; Souder Dep. at 12-13.) The school district assigned Linda Souders, Director of Procurement and Certification, to investigate this incident, and she discovered that Kreil and Green were involved in some sort of personal relationship, but Green did not want to elaborate on the specific nature of the relationship. (Id.) Souders reported the results of her investigation to Dr. Ernest Lavender, the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, who told her to ask Green if he wanted to file any formal complaint against Kreil, and Green told Souders that he did not wish to do so. (Id. at ¶ 7; Souders Dep. at 14-15.)

Defendants contend that, other than the incident involving Todd Green, there were no further complaints about defendant Kreil from 1995 through some time in early 1999. Further, during his second year at Westlake, Kreil was voted teacher of the year and was the school's "Star Teacher." (SMF at ¶ 8.) Although plaintiff disputes that there were no other reported problems involving defendant Kreil, he has failed to present any evidence of any other reports or complaints made about Kreil's behavior toward students before 1999. (See Pl. SMF at ¶ 8.)

During the plaintiff's eleventh grade year, in the fall of 1997, defendant Kreil approached him with what Kreil described as a scholarship opportunity.² (SMF at ¶ 9; Hackett Dep. at 27, 30, 37.) Kreil told plaintiff of a possible $100,000 scholarship sponsored by Georgia Tech, informed him that there would be several groups competing for the scholarship, and asked plaintiff if he wanted to participate in the scholarship competition. (SMF at ¶ 9.) Based on Kreil's representations about the purported scholarship program, a group of five male students, including plaintiff, was brought together to participate in the scholarship competition. (See id. at ¶ 10.) Plaintiff and another student were chosen as the group leaders. (Hackett Dep. at 26, 31.) Plaintiff was told not to discuss the scholarship program with any other teachers or administrators at the school and was told that the scholarship was only for specially chosen students and that no one else needed to know about it. (SMF at ¶ 10.) Kreil presented the plaintiff and the other members of the group with materials indicating that the program was sponsored by the Morgan Scholarship Fund, although, in reality, there was no such fund and no scholarship. Instead, the entire fictitious program had been created by defendant Kreil.³ (Id.)

The first project that Kreil assigned to the group as part of the alleged scholarship program involved a study of metabolism. (Hackett Dep. at 33.) The group was told to keep a logbook of their daily activities and they were asked to conduct research, which was usually...