J.H. v. Sch. Town of Munster

Decision Date03 February 2016
Docket NumberCause Number: 2:12-cv-69 PS
Citation160 F.Supp.3d 1079
Parties J.H., Plaintiff, v. School Town of Munster, et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Northern District of Indiana

Trent A. McCain, McCain Law Offices, Merrillville, IN, Ivan E. Bodensteiner, Valparaiso, IN, for Plaintiff.

Jacquelyn S. Pillar, Maryann Kusiak McCauley, Michael D. Sears, Crist Sears and Zic LLP, Munster, IN, Kathleen M. Maicher, Spangler Jennings & Dougherty PC, Merrillville, IN, for Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

PHILIP P. SIMON, CHIEF JUDGE

It's often been said that high school is the best four years of your life. But for one young man, Plaintiff J.H., high school was anything but. J.H. was a student at Munster High School and a member of the high school swim team during his Freshmen and Sophomore years. J.H. soon discovered, however, that hazing was rampant on the team and much of it was directed at him. After enduring this physical and emotional mistreatment for two years, J.H. ultimately quit the team and left Munster High School early. He brings this § 1983 action against both the school and various school officials in their individual and official capacities, for the following claims: discrimination based on gender under the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX; retaliation under the First Amendment; and a negligence claim under Indiana state law. Defendants now seek summary judgment on all claims. (DE 73.) For the reasons discussed in this Order, that motion will be GRANTED-IN-PART and DENIED-IN-PART .

Factual Background

J.H.'s troubles on the Munster swim team started at least as early as February 2010. J.H. attended a pre-sectionals party as a Freshman where the team's members dyed and cut their hair and then wore it that way before they shaved their heads prior to the sectional meet. (The head shaving was designed to improve their swimming times because hair provides drag.) The trouble was that J.H. didn't want his hair dyed and cut. Despite his protests, J.H. states that he was physically dragged into the bathroom and forced to have his hair cut and dyed.

According to J.H., things didn't get much better after that. His teammates engaged in various hazing activities against both J.H. and his teammates, most of which he experienced first-hand on multiple occasions such as: applying Icy Hot to boys without their consent to create an uncomfortable burning sensation; “five starring” teammates whereby one boy hits another with an open palm, creating a red “star” on their bare back; beating teammates with a plastic wiffle ball bat known as the “peace maker;” forcing younger teammates to carry the lunch trays of older team members; forcing younger team members to clean the locker room and bus; and forcibly moving younger team members out of shower stalls when older members wanted to use them; stealing each other's swim equipment; and hitting each other with swim fins.

Eventually, all of this got to be too much and J.H. began telling his mother about the incidents around January 2011. Specifically, he told her about the February 2010 hair-dyeing party. Understandably concerned, Ms. Hunt met with J.H.'s coach, Coach Pavlovich, on January 21, 2011 to alert the coach to what was happening at those yearly parties. According to Ms. Hunt, Coach Pavlovich brushed off the incident by saying [i]t's probably best if we don't do anything about it at this point. It happened a year ago. A lot of those kids are gone.” (DE 83-1 at 29.) He also told Ms. Hunt that “there were a lot of traditions already in place when [I] took over this team.” (Id. at 58.)

Not satisfied with this response, Ms. Hunt then met with Athletic Director Smith on February 3, 2011. They discussed the hair-dyeing parties and Smith asked if J.H. was planning on attending the next hair-dyeing party. Ms. Hunt responded that he was not. According to Ms. Hunt, when she referred to what happened at the February 2010 party as hazing, Smith said, the “boys don't look at it as hazing. They look [at it] as initiation.” (DE 83-1 at 45.) Ms. Hunt also asked Smith to get the word out to other parents and swimmers about what happens at the pre-sectional parties. (Id. at 52.) When J.H. failed to attend the 2011 hair-dyeing party, his teammates were not happy and he was verbally threatened for not attending.

Still not feeling like she was getting any traction with school officials, Ms. Hunt then emailed Coach Pavlovich and Athletic Director Smith with an article about the dangers of hazing on February 9, 2011. (DE 79-11 at 3.) But just five days later, J.H. was violently attacked in the boys locker room after practice. According to J.H., some boys grabbed him, lifted him up, and carried him over to another boy who was holding electric hair clippers. J.H. resisted and eventually the boys dropped him to the cement floor, on his back. J.H. was able to run away from the boys before they attacked him any further. There were no coaches in the locker room at the time of the incident, as was typical at that time because coaches were rarely in the locker room after practice.

At first, J.H. didn't tell his mother about the attack. In fact, he didn't tell her about it until late in May of 2011. So without knowing about this most recent incident, Ms. Hunt called Principal Tripenfeldas to report what happened at the pre-sectional hair-dyeing parties and to request that he made sure that Athletic Director Smith investigated the February 2010 incident she reported. A couple of days later, Ms. Hunt met with Superintendent Pfister about hazing in the boys swimming program. When Ms. Hunt told Mr. Pfister about what happened to J.H. at the February 2010 hair-dyeing party, his initial response was [h]ey lady, your kid's hair got cut” and that the school would not be getting involved because the incident occurred off campus. (DE 83-1 at 90-91.) Pfister did concede to Ms. Hunt that J.H. may have a valid complaint against the parents who hosted the party, but concluded that it wasn't the school's problem. (Id. at 91.) Pfister did, however, order an investigation, but considered the matter closed once he learned it occurred off-campus. (DE 83-9 at 46-47.) Both he and Tripenfeldas later admitted that some measure of discipline could have been taken. (DE 83-9 at 44; DE 83-8 at 26.)

Aside from the hair-dyeing incident, Tripenfeldas' investigation didn't reveal anything that he considered to be hazing. What Tripenfeldas believes is hazing, and what J.H. thinks it is, may not be one and the same. Tripenfeldas characterized what he discovered in the investigation as incidents of “pranks and horse play.”(DE 83-20 at 10.) And since the hair-dyeing parties occurred off-campus, he and Pfister both considered the matter closed.

Ms. Hunt next contacted the school on April 18, 2011 to schedule another meeting with Superintendent Pfister. She did not, however, hear back from the superintendent until one month later, on May 18, 2011. On May 23, 2011, Ms. Hunt submitted a formal written complaint regarding hazing in the boys swim team and met with Superintendent Pfister. That same day, J.H. told his mom that he was being verbally harassed and pushed around by some swim teammates. J.H.'s mom met with the dean of students about the issue, and he then interviewed J.H. alone. Although the dean at first seemed to think there wasn't an issue to pursue, he later told Ms. Hunt that the issue had been addressed. (DE 83-1 at 115-116.) That same day, J.H. concluded that he could no longer attend Munster High School.

Communications between the school officials and Ms. Hunt really broke down after that point. Once Ms. Hunt learned what had happened to her son in the locker room in February 2011, she reported the incident to both the police and Principal Tripenfeldas. She informed Tripenfeldas that she wanted to be present when he interviewed J.H. Tripenfeldas told her we don't have to do that.”(DE 83-1 at 129.) After she said she thought she had a right to be there and that she had been consulting an attorney, Tripenfeldas gave her the school attorney's contact information and ended the discussion. (Id. at 130.) It doesn't appear there was much communication between Ms. Hunt and the school after that. In fact, when J.H. elected not to swim over the summer, his email address was removed from the team mailing list. J.H. decided not to return to swimming the following semester.

Athletic Director Smith investigated the February 2011 locker room attack, but ultimately didn't find any additional hazing in his interviews with the swimmers. (DE 83-7 at 43.) All he learned was that the pre-sectional parties had been happening for years at a parent's home, that swimmers were not required to attend, and that some boys may have had their hair cut or dyed involuntarily. (Id. at 10-11.) In fact, one student had later had his eyebrow shaved off involuntarily as retribution for not attending one of the parties. (Id. at 12.) Ultimately, Smith, Tripenfeldas and Pavlovich did want to ban the hair-dyeing parties, but decided not to do so after meeting with the mother of a swimmer who indicated that she and the other swim team parents wanted the parties to continue. (Id. at 17-18.) Smith did inform that parent that the school did not approve of the parties and that they preferred the parties not occur. (Id. ) The parties, however, continued. (DE 83-8 at 17.)

All of this had a profound impact on J.H. According to J.H., the hazing he endured forced him to quit the swim team and graduate early. (DE 83 at 137-38, 169.) His grades also declined and he suffered psychological effects such as anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide, all requiring treatment. (DE 83 at 139-40, 148, 169.)

Discussion

Summary judgment is proper “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). A genuine dispute about a material fact exists only “if the evidence is such...

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