Corales v. Bennett

• Citation: 567 F.3d 554
• Decision Date: 01 June 2009
• Docket Number: No. 07-55892.,07-55892.
• Parties: Louise CORALES; Jamie Soltero; The Estate of Anthony J. Soltero; Jane Roe, I, a minor, by her guardian ad litem Mary Roe, I; Jane A Minor, by her Guardian Ad Litem John Roe 1; Guillermo Prieto, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Gene BENNETT; The Ontario-Montclair School District; Kathleen Kinley, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

567 F.3d 554

Louise CORALES; Jamie Soltero; The Estate of Anthony J. Soltero; Jane Roe, I, a minor, by her guardian ad litem Mary Roe, I; Jane A Minor, by her Guardian Ad Litem John Roe 1; Guillermo Prieto, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Gene BENNETT; The Ontario-Montclair School District; Kathleen Kinley, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 07-55892.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted October 22, 2008.

Filed June 1, 2009.

R. Samuel Paz, Law Offices of R. Samuel Paz, Culver City, CA, and Sonia M. Mercado, Sonia Mercado & Associates, Culver City, CA, for the appellants.

Jacqueline DeWarr Berryessa, Law Offices of Margaret A. Chidester & Associates, Irvine, CA, for the appellees.

Christian M. Keiner, Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, Sacramento, CA, for Amicus Curiae California School Boards Association and Education Legal Alliance.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Stephen G. Larson, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-06-00849-SGL.

Before: HARRY PREGERSON and CYNTHIA HOLCOMB HALL, Circuit Judges, and DAVID ALAN EZRA,^* District Judge.

HALL, Circuit Judge:

On March 28, 2006, Anthony Soltero, Annette Prieto, and two other students walked out of De Anza Middle School with the intent to participate in protests in their neighborhood against then-pending immigration reform measures. Two days later, they were disciplined for their one-day absence from school by Vice Principal Gene Bennett (Bennett), who took away one of their year-end activities and lectured them harshly regarding the possible legal consequences of truancy, including police involvement, a $250 fine, and a juvenile hall sentence. Tragically, Anthony committed suicide after school that day. Anthony's parents and one of the other students brought this action against Bennett, Principal Kathleen Kinley (Kinley), and the Ontario-Montclair School District, alleging violations of the students' and parents' civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; violations of California's Unruh Act; intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligently causing Anthony's suicide. The district court granted summary judgment to Defendants. Because Bennett did not violate the students' constitutional rights, there is no evidence that Bennett intended to harm the students, and because Anthony's death was not proximately caused by Bennett's actions, we affirm.

I. Background

On Tuesday, March 28, 2006, Anthony Soltero, an eighth-grade, fourteen-year-old student at De Anza Middle School (De Anza), Annette Prieto, and "one or two" other middle school students walked out of school around 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning.¹ They did not have prior permission from the school or their parents. They left school to participate in protests against the impending passage of federal immigration legislation that would have made it a crime to assist or help undocumented immigrants. In addition to Annette's deposition, Plaintiffs submitted Annette's handwritten account of the events of the week, which was written a few weeks after the incident at the direction of De Anza's principal. Annette testified in her deposition that the students' plan was to walk to nearby Ontario High School and to participate with other students in a protest. She testified that "mostly the whole schools, like, everybody in the schools were walking out and getting cited for it. Everybody was missing a lot of school because of that."² When they got to Ontario High School however, no one was there. They noticed the school was on lockdown. Eventually a few students from Ontario High School arrived and they walked for 60 to 90 minutes to Ontario Middle School, but nobody was there. At that point, it was about 11:00 am and De Anza Middle School had been let out for the day because of scheduled teacher conferences. The students decided to go home. While only four students left De Anza to participate in walkouts, two other Ontario middle schools had walkouts involving 50 to 150 students, and Montclair police issued citations to 125 students who had walked out of one of the middle schools.

Bennett testified that on the morning of Tuesday, March 28, 2006, a teacher told him "a girl had come up and asked another girl to leave campus with her as they were entering the classroom. . . ." Bennett was able to identify the girl and discover the identities of Anthony, Annette, and two other students. He required the four students to meet with him at his office Thursday morning when classes began.

Annette met with the other students before they entered Bennett's office. They discussed the consequences they were likely to face in the meeting, including that they "were going to have to pay a fine" and "lose one of [their] year-end activities." Annette testified that Anthony told her he was "scared of what was going to happen and nervous about just the consequences." Annette, too, stated she was so sick with nervousness about the consequences of missing school that she had stayed home from school on Wednesday as well.

The De Anza Parent Handbook explains that the consequences for a first-occurrence unexcused absence can range from after-school intervention (presumably detention) to Saturday Academy. Students participating in any protest that involves nonattendance at school are specifically identified as truant in the Ontario-Montclair School District regulations. AR 5131.4 (Prohibited Activities). In early March, a supplemental policy letter was mailed to the homes of all eighth-grade students explaining that if any disciplinary issues arose, the student could lose one or more of their promotional activities, including a dance, a trip to Disneyland, or the promotion ceremony itself. Annette had been suspended several times previously during the school year for unrelated infractions. Anthony had been placed on probation stemming from an incident the previous spring in which he carried a knife to school. Bennett, in response to notification from a concerned parent, had discovered the knife and reported Anthony to the police. Anthony's mother, in her declaration, indicated Anthony could have been sent to jail for three years if he violated the terms of his probation.

Though accounts of the meeting between Bennett and the students differ substantially, Annette testified in her deposition that:

Me, [two other students] and Anthony walked in, and he pointed at the three of us and said, "You guys are all dumb, dumb, and dumber." He said, "You guys are going to have to pay $250 fine;" that he is going to get the cops involved, and we're going to have to go to Juvenile Hall for, like, certain amount of years; and that we're stupid for doing it, and why did we think that we weren't going to get caught.

Bennett also told the students that they were going to lose a year-end activity, ultimately the Disneyland trip for each student. The reason for the students' absence was not discussed. After the meeting, the students returned to class for the day.

After school that day, Anthony told Annette that he was scared that his mother would be mad at him and he was worried about juvenile hall and having to pay a $250 fine. Anthony's mother was running errands that day, but called home to check in after school and to get a telephone number from Anthony. During the telephone call, Anthony told his mother that Bennett had caught him walking out, and that he was in trouble and going to lose one of his eighth-grade activities as a result. Anthony's mother testified that he didn't say anything to make her worry about his safety and that she was able to get the telephone number from Anthony.³ When she returned home about an hour later, she found Anthony on the floor of his room, suffering from a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide attempt. Anthony was pronounced dead later that evening.

Anthony left a suicide note which states in pertinent part: "I just want to tell you that I love you [guys] and I'll miss you, [and] tell this to all my family. I killed myself because [I] have to[o] many problems. .... Tell my teachers [they're] the best and tell Mr. [Bennett] he is a motherf# @(-)ker." He also apologized to his father for "making [him] mad."

None of the students were fined or sent to juvenile hall, and the police were never involved with the students' truancies.

On August 8, 2006, Louise Corales and Jaime Soltero (Anthony Soltero's parents), the Estate of Anthony J. Soltero, Jane Roe 1, Mary Roe 1, Jane Roe 2 (Annette Prieto), John Roe 1 (all minors represented by their guardians ad litem), and Guillermo Prieto (collectively "Plaintiffs") filed suit in the federal district court for the Central District of California against Bennett; the Ontario-Montclair School District; and Kinley, the principal of De Anza Middle School at the time of the protests (collectively "Defendants").⁴

The complaint stated six causes of action alleging the following: (1) violations of civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and § 1985(3)⁵ against Bennett and Kinley in their individual capacities; (2) an unconstitutional policy, custom or practice causing constitutional violations against the school district⁶; (3) failure to train and supervise, causing constitutional violations, against Kinley; (4) civil rights violations under California's Unruh Act, Cal. Civ.Code §§ 51.7, 52.1; (5) intentional infliction of emotional distress, and (6) general negligence resulting in Anthony's death. Plaintiffs sought general, compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.

Defendants filed a Summary Judgment Motion on March 8, 2007. The district court granted the motion in full. As to the First Amendment claim, the district court found that there was a triable issue of fact as to whether the students' actions constituted expressive conduct. It then applied the Supreme Court's test for expressive conduct in schools, set forth in Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., ...