Doe v. Herman, Case No. 3:20-cv-00947
| Decision Date | 17 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 3:20-cv-00947 |
| Parties | JOHN DOE, A MINOR CHILD, THROUGH HIS PARENTS, J.H. and M.H., Plaintiff, v. ANDREW HERMAN, Individually, and METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
MEMORANDUM
The Complaint in this case sets forth causes of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ("§ 1983") and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VI"), 42 U.S.C. § 2000d), and a state law negligence claim. Now before the court are (1) a motion to dismiss filed as a "Memorandum of Law in Support of Its Motion to Dismiss" (Doc. No. 11) filed on behalf of former-defendant Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools ("MNPS") by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County ("Metro") (which has now been substituted for MNPS as the appropriate defendant1), supported by a separate Memorandum of Law2 (Doc. No. 12); and (2) defendantAndrew Herman's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. No. 8), supported by a Memorandum of Law (Doc. No. 9).
For the reasons set forth herein, the court will grant Metro's motion, dismissing the § 1983 and Title VI claims with prejudice and the state law negligence claim without prejudice. The court will decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claim and, therefore, will deny as moot Herman's Motion to Dismiss.
John Doe, a minor, pursues this action through his parents, J.H. and M.H., who filed a Complaint on his behalf on November 3, 2020. (Doc. No. 1.)3 The Complaint alleges that John Doe and his parents reside in Davidson County, that John Doe attends a public school within Davidson County, Tennessee, that he has a disability (autism), and that he is African American. (Id. ¶¶ 1, 15.) During the 2019-2020 school year, John Doe was in the fourth grade, and his teacher was defendant Herman. (Id. ¶ 15.) Herman and MNPS personnel allegedly knew that John Doe's developmental disability affects his comprehension, learning, social interaction, and communication and that his "disability involves not knowing whether to take statements literally and understanding context." (Id. ¶ 16.)
A Vanderbilt University student teacher was assigned to work at Herman's school and with Herman's class for some period of time during the 2019-2020 school year.4 In February 2020, the student teacher designed a lesson on racism and slavery, to correspond with Black History Month, that she proposed teaching to the Black and White fourth-grade children in Herman's class. (Id.¶ 6.) Herman reviewed and approved the lesson plan. (Id. ¶ 15.)
This planned lesson was presented to Herman's class on February 3 and 4, 2020. The lesson included the presentation of an "apocryphal" speech, "said to have been given in the 1700s by a plantation owner from the West Indies, Willie Lynch, to white Virginia colonists on the subject of how to control their slaves." (Id. ¶ 7.) This speech, entitled "Let's Make a Slave," included language that is demeaning and derogatory toward African Americans, comparing them to horses and urging slave owners to "break" their slaves; it also graphically described and recommended horrific punishments that Lynch believed to be effective in controlling slaves, including bullwhipping and "tarring and feathering and setting blacks on fire," in order to "put the fear of God" in them. (Id. ¶¶ 9-10.) Among other things, the speech further recommended segregating enslaved people by age, color, intelligence, and the texture of their hair, setting them to compete against each other so that they would love and trust only their White owners, instilling in them a "frozen subconscious fear for [their] life," in order to make them "mentally dependent and weak, but physically strong," and "breeding" them to perpetuate "the cycle." (Id. ¶¶ 11-12.) The student teacher had the fourth-grade students, Black and White, read this speech "aloud amongst each other and answer questions" on February 3, 2020. (Id. ¶¶ 13, 17.)
The next day, on February 4, 2020, the lesson continued with a segment in which the children were made to "pretend they were actual slaves trying to be shipped away from their slaveowners" (id. ¶ 19) and to "pretend[] to seek freedom from slavery by being mailed away in a box" by "folding themselves under their desks." (Id. ¶¶ 19 20.) The students were instructed that, if they moved, they would be caught and returned to a life of slavery. (Id. ¶ 20.)
The Complaint asserts that the lesson, as proposed, even before it was actually taught, was so "vile, hurtful, and obviously inappropriate for fourth graders" that any "sane" educator would have rejected it as "inconsistent" with both "Tennessee's approved standard for teaching Fourth Grade Social Studies" and MNPS's "approved Scope and Sequence" for teaching pre-Civil War United States history. (Id. ¶ 14 (emphasis in original).) Herman nonetheless approved the lesson and, moreover, did not intervene during the teaching of the lesson. (Id. ¶¶ 15, 22.) The lesson was also observed by "special education teacher(s)" and "a paraprofessional," who likewise did not intervene. (Id. ¶ 22.)5
The Complaint alleges that the plaintiff, "an African American little boy with autism," was literally terrified by this lesson, which the Complaint describes as "two days of repeating racial trauma, inflicted upon John Doe by adults." (Id. ¶ 21.)
The "Let's Make a Slave kit" was "stuffed" into the plaintiff's backpack and discovered by his mother.6 (Id. ¶ 23.) On February 4, 2020, John Doe's mother reported finding the material to MNPS's administration. (Id. ¶ 24.) The Complaint does not allege that any other parents or students complained about the lesson, but MNPS's administration, after speaking with Herman and the student teacher, issued a statement that it "regrets if any students or parents were caused pain as a result of this incident." (Id.) The student teacher was removed from the classroom and Herman was placed on a brief administrative leave. (Id. ¶ 25.) John Doe's mother was advised by MNPS that Vanderbilt University's education department had approved the material. (Id.) Metro "undertook no corrective actions to wash the taught-filth from the impressionable children's minds." (Id.)
The incident continued to have repercussions for John Doe, however. "Foreseeably,"according to the Complaint, his classmates "joked" about the Black History lesson afterward, and "[t]hey told John Doe, 'you are my slave,' reinforcing in his mind his status as a slave." (Id. ¶ 26.) John Doe suffered anxiety as a result of this lesson and the subsequent teasing, becoming fearful about being separated from his family, mailed in a box, and sold as a slave, and he also worried about his own family members. (Id. ¶ 27.) He asked his mother if he could change his skin color in order to be "safe." (Id.)
Following his brief leave, Herman returned to the classroom and resumed teaching. One of the lessons introduced shortly after the "Let's Make a Slave" lesson involved the presentation of the book Freedom Over Me. (Id. ¶ 28.) The Complaint concedes that this book, which gives the actual sale prices of enslaved individuals, has "won awards for realism in addressing the slave trade."7 (Id. ¶ 29.) The Complaint asserts that, because the book was "presented in the immediate aftermath and context of a racially hostile environment," John Doe suffered "additional fears," due to his tendency to "ruminat[e] and tak[e] things literally." (Id.)
The Complaint asserts that Herman and MNPS presented all of these lessons to John Doe despite knowledge of his disability and particular sensitivities, as a result of which he continues to suffer "fears caused by the racially hostile educational environment including fear of being black,fear of losing his family, and fear of being a slave." (Id. ¶ 30.) The Complaint asserts that MNPS "failed to train its employees on how to prevent racial harassment and it was deliberately indifferent to teacher-on-student racial harassment." (Id. ¶ 31.) It further asserts that there existed an obvious need for such training on preventing and handling racial harassment. (Id. ¶¶ 31, 32.)
Based upon these allegations, the Complaint sets forth causes of action against Metro under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, for violation of the plaintiff's right to equal protection (Count I) and for racial harassment by adults and peers that interfered with John Doe's education, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (Count II), and a state law negligence claim against both Metro and Herman (Count III).
The defendants separately seek dismissal of all claims against them under Rule 12(b)(6). The plaintiff has filed a Response in opposition to each motion (Doc. Nos. 18, 19), and the defendants filed separate Reply briefs (Doc. Nos. 20, 21.)
In deciding a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), the court must "construe the complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, accept its allegations as true, and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff." Directv, Inc. v. Treesh, 487 F.3d 471, 476 (6th Cir. 2007); Inge v. Rock Fin. Corp., 281 F.3d 613, 619 (6th Cir. 2002). "Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2) requires only 'a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief,' in order to 'give the defendant fair notice of what the . . . claim is and the grounds upon which it rests." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 47 (1957)). The court must determine only whether "the claimant is entitled to offer evidence to support the claims," not whether the plaintiff can ultimately prove the facts alleged. Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 511 (2002) (quoting Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236 (1974)).
The complaint's allegations, however, "must be...
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