Seamons v. Snow, 94-4236
| Decision Date | 08 May 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-4236,94-4236 |
| Citation | 84 F.3d 1226,1996 WL 233483 |
| Parties | 141 A.L.R. Fed. 713, 64 USLW 2718, 109 Ed. Law Rep. 1103 Sherwin SEAMONS, Jane Seamons, individually, and as natural parents of Brian Seamons, a minor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Douglas SNOW, individually and in his capacity as the Coach at Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Myron Benson, individually, and as Principal of Sky View High School, and agent of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Sky View High School; the Cache County School District, Defendants-Appellees, Now Legal Defense and Education Fund; American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights Project; Equal Rights Advocates; National Women's Law Center; Women's Legal Defense Fund, Amici Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
Robert R. Wallace of Hanson, Epperson & Smith, P.C., Salt Lake City, Utah (David S. Doty, North Salt Lake, Utah, with him on the briefs), for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Carol Clawson, Office of the Attorney General, Salt Lake City, Utah (Jan C. Graham, Utah Attorney General, and Brent A. Burnett, Dan R. Larsen and Barbara E. Ochoa, Office of the Attorney General, on the briefs), for Defendants-Appellees.
Julie Goldscheid, New York City, Deborah A. Ellis, Brooklyn, NY and Yolanda S. Wu, Boston, MA, of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, on the brief for amici curiae.
Before EBEL and McKAY, Circuit Judges, and COOK, Senior District Judge. *
On October 11, 1993, Plaintiff-Appellant Brian Seamons was tied unclothed to a horizontal towel bar with athletic tape by his Sky View High School football teammates in the boys' locker room. Brian Seamons and his parents, Sherwin and Jane Seamons, filed the instant action in the United States District Court for the District of Utah against Defendants-Appellees Douglas Snow (the football team coach), Myron Benson (the principal), and Lynn Nelson, 1 individually and as employees and officers of the Sky View High School and the Cache County School District. Sky View High School and the Cache County School District were also named as defendants. Plaintiffs' complaint included federal causes of action under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, and Title IX (20 U.S.C. § 1681(a)). Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief as well as compensatory and punitive damages. The district court granted Defendants' Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). 2 This is an appeal
from the Memorandum Decision and Judgment of the district court dismissing the case. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and reverse in part, affirm in part and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
On October 11, 1993, Brian Seamons was assaulted by five of his upper-class football teammates in the locker room at Sky View High School. 3 Brian was grabbed as he came out of the shower, forcibly restrained and bound to a towel rack with adhesive tape. Brian's genital area was also taped. After Brian was restrained, one of his teammates brought a girl that Brian had dated into the locker room to view him. All of this took place while other members of the team looked on.
Brian reported this incident to school administrators and other authorities, including the football coach, Douglas Snow (the "coach"), and the school principal, Myron Benson (the "principal"). The coach brought Brian before the football team, accused Brian of betraying the team by bringing the incident to the attention of the administration and others, and told Brian to apologize to the team. When Brian refused to apologize, the coach dismissed Brian from the team. The five individuals who assaulted Brian were permitted to play in the next football game. The school district responded to the whole incident by canceling the final game of the season, a state playoff game.
Brian alleges that he was subjected to a "hostile environment" because he was branded as the cause of the football team's demise, and that he was threatened and harassed. Eventually the principal suggested to Brian and his parents that Brian should leave the high school. Brian did so and enrolled in a distant county.
Brian does not complain of the original assault against him. However, he does allege that the Defendant's response to that assault was sexually discriminatory and harassing. 4 For example, Brian contends Defendants expected him to conform to a macho male stereotype, as evidenced by their suggestion to him that he "should have taken it like a man." In addition, the coach reportedly explained the incident by stating "boys will be boys," and characterizing the assault as "hazing," or consistent with "pranks" that are rites of passage on the football team.
Brian alleged the following bases for recovery in the district court: (1) Defendants Cache County School District and Sky View High School created and tolerated a hostile educational environment in violation of Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a); (2) Defendants are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating Brian's constitutional rights to procedural due process, substantive due process, freedom of association, freedom of speech, familial association, and for violating Brian's right to equal education and equal protection; (3) Sky View High School and the School District had a policy of deliberate indifference to Brian's constitutional rights in violation of § 1983; (4) Sky View High School and the School District failed adequately to train their coaches, faculty and administrators in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and (5) Defendants conspired to violate Brian's constitutional rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985. In addition, Brian sought injunctive relief, attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b), and punitive damages.
With respect to the claims under Title IX, the district court determined that a plaintiff must prove discriminatory intent, and that Brian failed, as a matter of law, to allege With respect to the § 1983 claims, the court held that Brian failed to demonstrate he was deprived of any constitutional right: (1) Brian's procedural due process rights were not violated because he was not dismissed from school without a hearing; rather, he left voluntarily; (2) Brian's substantive due process rights were not violated because he failed to demonstrate that Defendants intentionally deprived him of an interest in liberty or property protected by the Constitution; (3) Brian failed to allege any facts showing Defendants intended to deprive him of his right to freedom of group association; (4) Brian failed to allege facts in support of his claim that Defendants violated his or his parents' right to freedom of speech, and the coach's dismissal of Brian from the team for not apologizing was protected by qualified immunity; (5) Brian's claims to equal education and equal protection failed because he failed to show he was treated differently from other similarly situated students on the basis of a protected status; (6) Brian's right to familial association was not violated because there were no facts tending to show Defendants directed their conduct at an intimate relationship with knowledge that the conduct would adversely affect that relationship; and finally (7) Brian's claim based on Defendants' alleged failure to train was not supported by facts demonstrating "deliberate indifference" on the part of Defendants. Because Brian's § 1983 claims failed, the district court dismissed the claims for attorney's fees and punitive damages.
sufficient facts to support his claim that Defendants were motivated by an intent to discriminate against him on the basis of his sex. In addition, citing "important distinctions" between Titles VII and IX, the district court refused to apply the negligence based Hostile Environment/Sexual Harassment doctrine of Title VII to this case. The court stated that even if this doctrine did apply, Brian failed to set forth any factual allegations supporting a claim of sexual harassment. 5
With respect to the § 1985 claim, the district court determined that Brian failed to allege facts supporting an inference that Defendants reached a "meeting of the minds" or that Defendants were "discriminatorily motivated" to deprive him of equal protection.
Finally, with regard to remedies, the district court found that Brian no longer had a "personal stake" in the outcome of the case because he no longer attends Sky View High School. Therefore, the district court dismissed the claim for injunctive relief. Based on the foregoing conclusions, the district court dismissed Brian's complaint in its entirety. He now appeals the district court's disposition of his Title IX claim, his procedural and substantive due process claims, his First Amendment freedom of speech claim, and his claim for injunctive relief. Brian also appeals the district court's conclusion with respect to Defendants' entitlement to qualified immunity. 6
We review an order granting a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim de novo. Boone v. Carlsbad Bancorporation, Inc., 972 F.2d 1545, 1551 (10th Cir.1992). Dismissal is inappropriate under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) unless the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claims to entitle him to relief. Id. The court must
accept as true all the factual allegations in the complaint, construe them in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, and resolve all reasonable inferences in plaintiff's favor. Arnold v. McClain, 926 F.2d 963, 965 (10th Cir.1991); Freeman v. Department of Corrections, 949 F.2d 360, 361 (10th Cir.1991).
Title IX prohibits educational institutions that receive federal assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex. 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a) (1990). Title IX states:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any education program or...
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