P.H. v. School Dist. of Kansas City MO

• Decision Date: 16 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-2710,00-2710
• Parties: (8th Cir. 2001) P.H., APPELLANT, v. THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, APPELLEE. Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 653

265 F.3d 653 (8th Cir. 2001)

P.H., APPELLANT, v. THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, APPELLEE.

No. 00-2710

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

Submitted: May 16, 2001

Filed: September 7, 2001

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Before Wollman, Chief Judge, Hansen, Circuit Judge, and Barnes,¹ District Judge.

Hansen, Circuit Judge.

P.H. appeals the district court's² grant of summary judgment in favor of the Kansas City School District (KCSD) in this case, alleging civil rights violations and sexual discrimination arising from a two-year sexual relationship between a high school teacher and P.H., who was a student at the time. We affirm.

I.

In the summary judgment context, we view the facts and the inferences to be drawn from them in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587 (1986). The facts asserted, however, must be properly supported by the record. Tlamka v. Serrell, 244 F.3d 628, 632 (8th Cir. 2001). The undisputed facts taken in the light most favorable to P.H. are as follows.

John Hopkins, a teacher at Paseo High School in Kansas City, Missouri, engaged in sexual relations with a male student, referred to here as P.H., from late 1995 through December 1997. P.H. said that Hopkins engaged him in oral sex almost daily throughout that time period, oftentimes at school during school hours or at hotels and other places. Hopkins gave P.H. many gifts and offered help as P.H.'s grades began to drop from his failure to attend classes. P.H. was absent from classes approximately 25% of the time. His many absences and excessive tardiness resulted from spending too much time with Hopkins during the school day.

KCSD claimed that it had no notice of Hopkins' misbehavior until P.H.'s mother complained on January 5, 1998. Dorothy Shepherd had been the school principal from 1995 through December of 1997, and she was succeeded by Roger Williams in January of 1998. Sherry Sample was the vice principal the entire time. The only complaints school officials received concerned P.H.'s tardiness and absences or general complaints about P.H. spending too much time with Hopkins. Also, teachers noticed that P.H.'s grades began to fall. Neither P.H. nor anyone else ever complained to school officials about sexual abuse or suspected abuse while it was occurring. Principal Dorothy Shepherd testified that several of P.H.'s teachers had complained to her about Hopkins making P.H. tardy or absent from their classes and that P.H.'s grades were suffering because of it. Ms. Shepherd had confronted Hopkins and warned him to discontinue his actions. She had also spoken to P.H. and his mother about the concerns.

Vice Principal Sherry Sample had heard complaints that Hopkins was spending "a lot of time with the same students." (Appellant's App. at 378.) Fearing that his actions appeared to be favoritism, Ms. Sample confronted Hopkins about the complaints, but Hopkins always had an explanation because the same students were involved in student organizations and activities that he sponsored, such as his leadership class, student council, and his peer mediation team. He explained that he would naturally have more contact with these students, and P.H. was one of them. Ms. Sample stated as follows: "But what I told him was, I said, you know, you're spending a lot of time with the same kids. I'm not accusing you of anything, but it just doesn't look right so I wouldn't recommend it. He always had a logical explanation." (Id. at 380-81.) Ms. Sample testified that prior to the complaint by P.H.'s mother, she had never heard rumors or reports that Hopkins was having improper sexual or physical contact with students. After the investigation came to light, she said she had heard one teacher remark that "they finally got him... or something along those lines." (Id. at 390.) There is no evidence, however, that any teacher had expressed a suspicion of sexual abuse prior to that time.

Immediately following the complaint by P.H.'s mother in January of 1998, the principal removed Hopkins from the classroom, reported the allegations to the Division of Family Services, initiated an investigation, and petitioned for the revocation of Hopkins' teaching license. Hopkins never returned to the classroom but was allowed to remain as an employee of the KCSD in an administrative capacity, pending completion of the investigation. Ultimately, in July 1999 Hopkins pleaded guilty to four counts of statutory sodomy involving P.H. and voluntarily resigned.

P.H. brought this lawsuit against the KCSD, asserting sexual discrimination in violation of Title IX, see 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (1994); civil rights violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; common law failure to supervise; and a violation of the Violence Against Women Act. The district court granted the KCSD summary judgment on all grounds. P.H. appeals the grant of summary judgment only as to the § 1983 claim for civil rights violations and the Title IX sexual discrimination claim.

II.

We review the district court's grant of summary judgment de novo, applying the same standards as the district court. Stuart v. Gen. Motors Corp., 217 F.3d 621, 630 (8th Cir. 2000). Summary judgment is appropriate if the record "show[s] that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). "To avoid summary judgment, the non-movant must make a sufficient showing on every essential element of its claim on which it bears the burden of proof." Buettner v. Arch Coal Sales Co., 216 F.3d 707, 718 (8th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 773 (2001). We look to the substantive law to determine whether an element is essential to a case, and "[o]nly disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude the entry of summary judgment." Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986). P.H., as the nonmoving party, "is entitled to all reasonable inferences-those that can be drawn from the evidence without resort to speculation." Sprenger v. Fed. Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, 253 F.3d 1106, 1110 (8th Cir. 2001) (internal quotations omitted).

A.

P.H. first argues that the district court erroneously granted summary judgment on the § 1983 claim. "It is well-settled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the liberty interest of a child in public school from sexual abuse." Shrum ex rel. Kelly v. Kluck, 249 F.3d 773, 778 (8th Cir. 2001). A school district can be liable for civil rights violations under § 1983 either for failing to receive, investigate, and act upon complaints of sexual abuse or for failing to train its employees to prevent or terminate sexual abuse. Thelma D. v. Bd. of Educ. of City of St. Louis, 934 F.2d 929, 932, 934 (8th Cir. 1991). P.H. contends that material issues of fact remain concerning whether the KCSD had notice of the sexual abuse and whether it failed to train its employees to avoid sexual abuse with students or to recognize and report sexual abuse.

1. Failure to Receive, Investigate, and Act on Complaints.

A school district "may be found liable for 'a governmental custom of failing to receive, investigate and act upon complaints of sexual misconduct of its employees' if the [plaintiff] proved the existence of an official custom of such conduct and if that custom caused [the plaintiff] constitutional harm." Larson v. Miller, 76 F.3d 1446, 1453 (8th Cir. 1996) (en banc) (quoting Thelma D., 934 F.2d at 932). To establish the custom of failure to receive, investigate, or act on complaints of constitutional violations, the plaintiff must prove (1) a continuing, widespread, persistent pattern of misconduct by the government employee; (2) deliberate indifference to or tacit authorization of the conduct by the policy-making officials after the officials have notice of the conduct; and (3) a resulting injury on the part of the plaintiff. Jane Doe A. v. Special Sch. Dist., 901 F.2d 642, 646 (8th Cir. 1990).

There is no dispute that the sexual abuse violations by Hopkins were persistently ongoing from 1995 through 1997 and that they caused injury to the plaintiff. However, P.H. has failed to demonstrate a material issue of fact showing that the KCSD had notice of the conduct and was deliberately indifferent to or tacitly authorized the inappropriate conduct. Instead, the record demonstrates that once P.H.'s mother complained, the school district took immediate action to remove Hopkins from the classroom and begin a criminal investigation. Prior to that complaint, there were no reports of sexual contact or suspected sexual contact between P.H. and Hopkins. The school officials had inquired about Hopkins' conduct of spending too much time with P.H. and causing him to be absent from or tardy to classes. School officials had warned Hopkins to discontinue this conduct. There is no indication, however, that the KCSD had any notice of an ongoing pattern of sexual abuse by Hopkins; the KCSD may not be found to have been deliberately indifferent to or to have tacitly authorized conduct of which it was unaware.

P.H. would have us infer notice to the KCSD from the totality of the facts. He points first to the fact that he spent too much time with Hopkins resulting in excessive tardiness and absences. We conclude that this is an insufficient basis from which reasonably to infer that the KCSD had notice of the sexual misconduct. The record indicates that Hopkins was spending an excessive amount of time with P.H., resulting in absences, tardiness, and falling grades. Such action on the part of a teacher is certainly cause for concern, but it does not automatically give rise to a reasonable inference of sexual abuse. The principal and vice...