Doe v. Taylor Independent School Dist.
| Decision Date | 02 October 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 90-8431,90-8431 |
| Citation | 975 F.2d 137 |
| Parties | , 77 Ed. Law Rep. 652 Jane DOE, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. TAYLOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al., Defendants, and Mike Caplinger and Eddy Lankford, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
High school student brought civil rights suit against teacher, school district, superintendent, and principal, alleging violation of due process and equal protection arising from sexual molestation of student by teacher. The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Stephen H. Capelle, United States Magistrate Judge, denied superintendent and principal's motion for summary judgment urged on ground of qualified immunity, and they appealed. The Court of Appeals, Goldberg, Circuit Judge, held that: (1) student had firmly established constitutional right under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to be free from sexual molestation by a state-employed school teacher; (2) superintendent and principal had an affirmative, constitutionally based duty to protect student from such an intrusion into bodily integrity; and (3) genuine dispute of material fact existed as to whether superintendent and principal acted with deliberate indifference towards student's constitutional rights, precluding summary judgment on issue of qualified immunity.
Affirmed and remanded.
Eric W. Schulze and Laurie Maniotis Rodriguez Hairston, Walsh, Anderson, Underwood & Schulze, P.C., Austin, Tex., for defendants-appellants.
Gwendolyn H. Gregory, Deputy Gen. Counsel and August W. Steinhilber, Nat. School Boards Ass'n, Alexandria, Va., for amicus, Nat. School Boards Ass'n.
Brian D. East, Ellen Hahn, Daves, Hahn & Levy and Vella M. Fink and B. Craig Deats, Van Os, Deats, Robinett & Owen, P.C., Austin, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Before GOLDBERG, HIGGINBOTHAM, and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.
You would think it obvious that sexual molestation, when visited upon one of our schoolchildren by her public schoolteacher, would undoubtedly violate her constitutional right to be free from intrusions into bodily integrity. You would also think it indisputable that a school superintendent and a school principal, once aware that such reprehensible conduct was taking place on their campus, would have not only a moral duty, but also a legal duty, to stop it--that the Constitution would not tolerate their looking the other way or taking only meager measures to protect a 14 year-old schoolgirl from being sexually abused by one of their subordinates. Yet we are being asked to conclude, quite to the contrary, that what we deem to be patently obvious, was not so obvious to these school officials, when, in 1986-87, they learned that plaintiff Jane Doe, 1 then only a freshman at Taylor High School, was being sexually molested by her biology teacher.
We hold that Jane Doe had a firmly established constitutional right under the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to be free from sexual molestation by a state-employed schoolteacher, that the superintendent and principal had an affirmative, constitutionally-based duty to protect her from such an intrusion into her bodily integrity, and that a genuine dispute of material fact exists as to whether the superintendent and principal acted with deliberate indifference toward Jane Doe's firmly established constitutional rights. We therefore remand this case to the district court for trial.
Lynn Stroud, a teacher and coach for almost twenty years, was employed by the Taylor Independent School District from 1981 until 1987. It was no secret within the school community that Coach Stroud had developed romantic affections for a number of young female students over the course of his tenure at Taylor High. He made little effort to conceal his fancy for his female students, writing explicit love notes to them, letting them drive his truck, exhibiting explicit favoritism in class toward them, and physically touching them in a manner not becoming a schoolteacher. As early as 1985, complaints about Coach Stroud's behavior reached the offices of the principal and superintendent through various channels.
Enter Jane Doe, a freshman at Taylor High School in the 1986-87 academic year. Coach Stroud became enamored with her to the point of obsession. He began his seduction of her by writing suggestive comments on test papers. He would give her high grades without requiring that she do any work at all. He would take her and other female students out to lunch during the school day and buy them alcoholic beverages--something he did quite often for his female students. Not surprisingly, all of this flattered Jane Doe, and she developed a "crush" on Coach Stroud.
By late fall, Stroud was touching and kissing Jane Doe. It began with a kiss on her cheek as she was leaving the school field house one day. Eventually, he began taking her into the laboratory room adjacent to the classroom and to the field house where he would kiss and touch her. The kissing and touching escalated to heavy petting and undressing when, in January 1987, Stroud took Jane Doe to a rock concert. There, Stroud bought her an alcoholic beverage, took her back to the field house, and began caressing her in the most intimate of ways. He suggested intercourse, but she refused.
On Valentine's Day, Stroud gave Jane Doe a Valentine which read: A friend and classmate of Jane Doe's, Brittani B., found the Valentine in Doe's purse and took it to the principal, defendant-appellant Eddy Lankford. Brittani told Principal Lankford that she suspected that Stroud was sexually involved with Jane Doe. Principal Lankford acknowledged that he was aware of rumors concerning Doe and Stroud but indicated that Stroud just had a way of flirting with the girls. In response to the Valentine, Principal Lankford transferred Brittani (not Jane Doe) out of Stroud's class, but did not investigate the matter further.
After a Valentine's Day dance, Jane Doe spent the night at Stroud's home; Doe had befriended Stroud's daughter, and Stroud had invited Doe to spend the night. While Doe was there, Stroud suggested to her that they have intercourse. Once again, she refused. She spent several nights at the Stroud home over the course of the next two months. Each time, Stroud would tell her that it would be "okay" for them to have sexual intercourse, and each time she would say no.
One week after the Valentine's Day dance, the superintendent of Taylor Independent School District, defendant-appellant Mike Caplinger, learned from another school official that Stroud was behaving "unprofessionally" with Jane Doe at a school basketball game. Superintendent Caplinger, Principal Lankford, and the athletic director spoke with Stroud about the matter. Troubled by allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of Stroud, the athletic director had already taken it upon himself to speak with Stroud on previous occasions, and so informed Principal Lankford. According to Principal Lankford, Superintendent Caplinger was informed of the several reports concerning Stroud. Nevertheless, Stroud remained in the employ of Taylor High.
By March or April, 1987, Stroud's persistence in seducing Jane Doe finally proved fruitful; he and Jane Doe had sexual intercourse. Doe was fifteen years old at the time, and Stroud was her first sexual partner. As Jane Doe deposed, she "gave into" Stroud because she was "just tired of the pressure," sensing that Stroud was getting mad at her for not having sex with him; she was afraid of losing their friendship altogether.
Over the course of the next several months, Stroud and Doe had repeated sexual contact at different locations, both on and off the school grounds. At least twice, they engaged in oral sex. Their romantic relationship (although perhaps not the extent of it) was common knowledge within the Taylor High community, not only among students, but also among parents, faculty, and the two athletic directors. Jane Doe was reluctant to refuse Stroud's sexual advances out of fear that he would alienate her completely.
In June 1987, Stroud took Doe and some other girls to a festival where, once again, he provided them with alcoholic beverages. One girl became intoxicated. Stroud began dancing with Doe, angering Stroud's wife. Stroud took Doe out to a field, had sexual intercourse with her, took her (along with his daughter and the intoxicated girl) back to his home, and had sexual intercourse with Doe again later that night. Two concerned parents witnessed Stroud's behavior at the festival and reported the incident to Superintendent Caplinger. They also informed Superintendent Caplinger that Stroud exhibited favoritism toward female students in class. Superintendent Caplinger did not contact Jane Doe's parents to discuss the episode with them. 3
If by then it was not plain to Superintendent Caplinger and Principal Lankford that something at Taylor High was terribly wrong, on July 15, 1987 the sirens should have sounded. Doe's parents discovered photographs of Stroud among Doe's possessions with such handwritten inscriptions by Stroud as: Doe's parents immediately brought the signed photographs to the attention of Superintendent Caplinger. Superintendent Caplinger confirmed to Doe's parents that he was aware of rumors concerning Coach Stroud; indeed, several concerned parents had contacted the principal's office to request that their children not be assigned to Stroud's biology class. Superintendent Caplinger told Jane Doe's...
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