Kach v. Hose
| Decision Date | 23 December 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-3921.,08-3921. |
| Citation | 589 F.3d 626 |
| Parties | Tanya Nicole KACH a/k/a Nikki Diane Allen v. Thomas HOSE, individually and on behalf of both St. Moritz Security Services, Inc. and McKeesport School District; *St. Moritz Security Services, Inc., a Pennsylvania Corporation, and on behalf of the McKeesport School District; McKeesport School District; McKeesport School Board; Dr. Robert Weinfurtner, Superintendent; The City of McKeesport; Eleanor Hose and Howard Hose, as Husband and Wife; E. Michael Elias, Juvenile Lieutenant, McKeesport Police; Dan Pacella, Vice-Principal McKeesport School District; Andrea Abrams, Acting-Principal McKeesport School District; Tom Carter, Both Chief, McKeesport Police, and McKeesport School Board Member; Judy Sokol and Debbie Burnette Tanya Nicole Kach, Appellant. (*Dismissed per Court Order dated 8/18/09). |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Lawrence H. Fisher, (Argued), Cohen & Willwerth, Pittsburgh, PA, Attorney for Appellant.
P. Brennan Hart, Jeanette H. Ho, (Argued), Pietragallo, Gordon, Alfano, Bosick & Raspanti, Pittsburgh, PA, Attorneys for City of McKeesport, E. Michael Elias and Tom Carter.
David S. Bloom, Ronald R. Lucas, Jr., (Argued), Maiello, Brungo & Maiello, Pittsburgh, PA, John F. Cambest, Dodaro, Kennedy & Cambest, Pittsburgh, PA, Attorneys for Tom Carter, Andrea Abrams, Debbie Burnette, McKeesport School Board, McKeesport School District, Dan Pacella and Robert Weinfurtner.
Before: SMITH, FISHER and NYGAARD, Circuit Judges.
This case arises from a highly unusual and extremely disturbing set of circumstances. In September 1995, Tanya Nicole Kach was a fourteen-year-old student when she befriended, and later became intimate with, Thomas Hose, a security guard at her middle school. Several months later, Kach ran away from home and spent the next approximately ten years living clandestinely with Hose. In March 2006, when in her twenties, Kach disclosed her true identity to a friend and was removed by law enforcement authorities from Hose's house. Thereafter, she brought this lawsuit against Hose, several other individuals as well as school and law enforcement officials, asserting various 42 U.S.C. § 19831 and state-law claims. The District Court dismissed all of Kach's claims at summary judgment. The Court determined that most of Kach's § 1983 claims and certain state-law claims were time-barred and that Hose had not acted under color of state law for § 1983 purposes. Having disposed of Kach's federal claims, the District Court declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over her remaining state-law claims. Kach now appeals. We will affirm the District Court's ruling in its entirety.
Kach2 was born on October 14, 1981 to Jerald and Sherri Kach.3 She spent the first several years of her life in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. In April 1995, Jerald Kach met Jo-Ann McGuire. Several months later, following Jerald and Sherri Kach's separation, Jerald and Tanya Kach moved in with McGuire and her son at their home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
In September 1995, Kach began attending Cornell Middle School in McKeesport. A few weeks after starting school, Kach met Hose, a security guard working at Cornell and employed by St. Moritz Security Services, Inc. St. Moritz, a private security firm under contract with the school, had hired Hose in August 1994 and shortly thereafter assigned him to Cornell, where he was responsible for monitoring the premises and breaking up fights among students. After their initial encounter, Kach developed a crush on Hose and began writing him letters expressing her feelings for him. As the school year progressed, the relationship between Kach and Hose grew intimate. Hose sometimes removed Kach from class, ostensibly for disciplinary reasons but in reality for the purpose of spending time with her alone. Hose also gave Kach gifts in the form of money and jewelry. The two often walked the halls of Cornell together and occasionally met at a prearranged location underneath a stairwell. At Hose's invitation, Kach spent Superbowl Sunday in 1996 at Hose's house in McKeesport, where Hose lived with his parents, Eleanor and Howard, and his son. Hose's family was not at home during Kach's visit. Kach ended up spending the night and "making out" with Hose. Hose told Kach on a number of occasions that he understood that her home life was unstable and that he could take better care of her than her parents could.
On February 9, 1996, Kach packed some possessions into a book bag. The next day, she left home without telling anyone and went to Hose's house with the belief that her life would be better with Hose. Four days after Kach's departure and with no knowledge of her whereabouts, Jerald Kach reported his daughter missing to the McKeesport Police Department. A missing persons report was issued and an officer was dispatched to Hose's home during the course of the ensuing investigation. During the officer's visit, Kach stayed in hiding and her presence went undiscovered.
Kach spent the next approximately ten years living with Hose, unbeknownst at first to everyone but the two of them. For the first several years, Kach remained in Hose's bedroom for long stretches of time, locking the door from the inside during Hose's absences and opening it only on Hose's return.4 Beginning in 2000, with Hose's assent, Kach occasionally left the house while Hose's parents were not at home but always returned before they did.5 Kach sometimes took the bus to go shopping or ventured around the neighborhood on foot. Although Kach at various times had misgivings about her living conditions, she remained with Hose. Her occasional complaints to Hose about wanting to leave were met with threats and "guilt trips."
In June 2005, Hose introduced Kach to his parents. Thereafter, Kach's unaccompanied outings became increasingly common. During the course of her excursions, Kach met Joseph Sparico, the owner of a local convenience store to whom she introduced herself as Nikki Diane Allen. She made frequent visits to the convenience store, in time befriending Sparico and his family. In March 2006, Kach informed Sparico that she was in fact Tanya Kach and that she had been living with Hose for ten years. Law enforcement authorities were notified, ultimately leading to Kach's removal from the house and Hose's arrest and conviction for various criminal offenses arising out of his relationship with Kach.
In September 2006, approximately six months after her identity and whereabouts came to light, Kach initiated this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, asserting § 1983 and state-law claims arising out of her association with Hose. She named as defendants Hose and his parents; St. Moritz; the McKeesport Area School District6 and its superintendent, Dr. Robert Weinfurtner; the McKeesport School Board; Dan Pacella, a Cornell administrative assistant; Andrea Abrams, Cornell's acting principal; the City of McKeesport; E. Michael Elias, a lieutenant with the McKeesport Police Department Juvenile Bureau; Thomas Carter, the McKeesport Police Department chief of police and a member of the McKeesport School Board; and Judy Sokol, one of Hose's friends who was alleged to have aided Hose in concealing Kach's identity. The Clerk of the District Court entered default against Eleanor and Howard Hose as well as Sokol after all three failed to plead or otherwise defend within the time required by law. The District Court thereafter denied Kach's motion for the entry of default judgment against those defendants.
In July 2007, Kach filed an amended complaint against the same defendants listed above plus Debbie Burnett, a Cornell guidance counselor. In Count Two of the amended complaint,7 Kach asserted a § 1983 claim based on alleged civil rights violations against the City of McKeesport as well as Carter and Elias. In Count Three, Kach asserted a § 1983 claim based on alleged civil rights violations against Hose, St. Moritz, the McKeesport Area School District, the McKeesport School Board, Carter, Pacella, Abrams, and Burnett. Count Four asserted a negligence claim against Eleanor and Howard Hose as well as Sokol. In Count Five, Kach asserted a negligence claim against St. Moritz. Counts Six and Seven, respectively, asserted an assault claim and a battery claim against Hose. After Kach filed her amended complaint, the Clerk of the District Court entered Hose's default after he, too, failed to plead or otherwise defend within the time required by law.
Following discovery, the defendants who had appeared in this case separately moved for summary judgment in three groups. The first group was made up of the City of McKeesport; Elias; and Carter, in his capacity as the chief of police (collectively, the "McKeesport Defendants"). The second group consisted of St. Moritz alone. The third group was made up of the McKeesport Area School District; the McKeesport School Board; Weinfurtner; Pacella; Abrams; and Carter, in his capacity as a member of the McKeesport School Board (collectively, the "School District Defendants"). The defendants sought summary judgment on a number of different grounds. After a hearing, the District Court granted the defendants' respective motions. Kach v. Hose, No. 06-1216, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97592, 2008 WL 4279799 (W.D.Pa. Sept. 12, 2008). Focusing its analysis primarily on the defendants' statute-of-limitations defense, the District Court held that Kach's § 1983 claims were time-barred and rejected Kach's arguments that her claims did not accrue until her departure from Hose's house and that either Pennsylvania or federal tolling principles rendered her claims timely. The Court granted summary judgment for Hose based on its conclusion that Hose had not acted under color of state law, an essential element of a § 1983 claim. The District...
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