Seamons v. Snow

• Decision Date: 04 October 1994
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 94-NC-4B.
• Citation: 864 F. Supp. 1111
• Parties: Sherwin SEAMONS and Jane Seamons, individually, and as natural parents of Brian Seamons, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. Douglas SNOW, individually, and in his capacity as the Coach at Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Myron Benson, individually, and as Principal of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Sky View High School; the Cache County School District; and John and Jane Does 1-40, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Utah

864 F. Supp. 1111

Sherwin SEAMONS and Jane Seamons, individually, and as natural parents of Brian Seamons, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. Douglas SNOW, individually, and in his capacity as the Coach at Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Myron Benson, individually, and as Principal of Sky View High School and the Cache County School District; Sky View High School; the Cache County School District; and John and Jane Does 1-40, Defendants.

Civ. No. 94-NC-4B.

United States District Court, D. Utah, Northern Division.

October 4, 1994.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Barbara H. Ochoa, Dan R. Larsen, Utah Atty. Gen., Salt Lake City, UT, for plaintiffs.

David S. Doty, Jaryl L. Rencher, Robert R. Wallace, Hanson, Epperson & Smith, Salt Lake City, UT, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND JUDGMENT

BENSON, District Judge.

This case came before the Court on August 23, 1994, on Defendants' Motion to Dismiss pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Robert R. Wallace and David S. Doty represented the plaintiffs, Sherwin and Jane Seamons. Dan R. Larsen and Barbara E. Ochoa represented defendants Douglas Snow, Myron Benson, Sky View High School and the Cache County School District.

Having reviewed the memoranda submitted by the parties, having heard oral argument from counsel, being fully apprised, and for good cause appearing, the court enters the following memorandum decision and judgment.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In the fall of 1993, Brian Seamons was a junior at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah. He was a member of the football team, playing backup quarterback. Defendant Myron Benson ("Benson") was the principal of Sky View High School. Defendant Douglas Snow ("Snow") was the head football coach. Sky View High School is in the Cache County School District ("the school district").

On October 11, 1993, an incident occurred in the boys locker room at Sky View High School. As Brian was leaving the shower area, he was restrained by four other members of the football team. Using athletic tape, they taped Brian to a towel rack. After Brian was secured by the tape, a fifth student left the locker room and returned with the girl Brian had taken to the homecoming dance a few weeks earlier. She was shown Brian in his taped condition.

The next day, Brian told Benson about the incident. Thereafter, Brian's parents, the plaintiffs in this case, became actively involved in conversations with school officials as to the appropriate action the school should take.

In the aftermath of the incident, following several communications between Snow, Brian, and other members of the football team, Snow suspended and then dismissed Brian from the team. One day following Brian's dismissal from the team, Defendant Larry Jensen, acting in his capacity as superintendent of the Cache County School District, cancelled the remainder of Sky View High School's football season as a direct result of the taping incident and the subsequent events related thereto.

Brian later moved from his parents' home in Smithfield, Utah to reside with his uncle's family in Emery County, Utah, a considerable distance from Smithfield.

ALLEGATIONS OF THE COMPLAINT

Plaintiffs allege the following bases for recovery:

1. Defendants Cache County School District and Sky View High School created and tolerated a hostile educational environment in violation of Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a).

2. Defendants are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violating Plaintiffs' constitutional rights to procedural due process, substantive due process, freedom of association, freedom of speech, familial association, and for violating Brian Seamons' right to equal education and equal protection.

3. Sky View High School and the school district had a policy of deliberate indifference to Plaintiffs' constitutional rights.

4. Sky View High School and the school district fail to train its coaches, faculty and administrators in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

5. Defendants conspired to violate Plaintiffs' constitutional rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

6. Defendants deprived Brian Seamons of class-based civil rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3).

7. Plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief, attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and punitive damages. In addition, Plaintiffs have asserted several pendant state claims.

ANALYSIS

The Court's focus today is a narrow one: deciding whether this case belongs in federal court. All parties concede and the Court agrees that this case does not concern whether the boys involved in the taping incident acted illegally, whether Brian was treated unfairly by his schoolmates and neighbors, whether school employees or school board officials breached a legal duty to prevent the locker room incident, or whether the students involved in the incident were adequately punished. Rather, the Motion to Dismiss is limited to the question whether the facts alleged in the Complaint, taken as true, may entitle Plaintiffs to relief under federal law, namely, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 or the Constitution of the United States. This Court is not asked to, and does not, express any opinion as to whether Plaintiffs could recover legal relief under any other theories in state court or in any other tribunal than this federal court.

I. TITLE IX

A. Background

Title IX prohibits educational institutions that receive federal assistance from discriminating on the basis of sex. 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a) (1990). Title IX states:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance ...

20 U.S.C. § 1681(a) (1990). The purpose of Title IX is to ensure equal educational opportunities to males and females. Title IX's protections arise when sex is the motive behind a harmful discriminatory act. Title IX was not intended to create a genderless society in which every act gives rise to a cause of action simply because it affects a male or a female. The remedies under Title IX may tempt creative lawyers to carry the causal link between gender and gender discrimination further than Congress intended. To state a cause of action under Title IX, a plaintiff must show (1) that he or she was excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in an educational program; (2) that the program receives federal assistance; and (3) that his or her exclusion from the program was on the basis of sex. Bougher v. University of Pittsburgh, 713 F.Supp. 139, 143-44 (W.D.Pa.1989), aff'd on other grounds, 882 F.2d 74 (3rd. Cir.1989).

B. Preliminary Questions

Before determining whether Plaintiffs have stated a claim under which relief can be granted under Title IX, this Court must resolve three preliminary questions. First, whether plaintiffs Jane and Sherwin Seamons have standing as individuals to assert a claim under Title IX. Jane and Sherwin Seamons were not students at Sky View High School. Their Complaint does not allege any facts that could support an argument that they, as distinct from their son, were discriminated against with respect to educational programs or activities. Their claims as individuals under Title IX are therefore without merit. This Court will examine only those claims that Jane and Sherwin Seamons assert on behalf of their son, Brian.

The second preliminary matter is to determine which of the defendants, if any, are subject to suit under Title IX. Although the Supreme Court has found that Title IX provides a damages remedy, Franklin v. Gwinnett County Pub. Schs., 503 U.S. 60, 112 S.Ct. 1028, 117 L.Ed.2d 208 (1992), that remedy is available only when suit is brought against an "education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance," not in suits against individuals.¹ 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a). Neither Benson nor Snow is an "education program or activity" within the contemplation of the statute. Plaintiffs therefore have no right to bring an action against Benson and Snow, as individuals, under Title IX. This Court need not determine whether Sky View High School is an "education program or activity" because under state law, Sky View High School does not have a corporate existence separate from the Cache County School District. Only school districts, not individual schools, have the power to sue and be sued. Utah Code Ann. § 53A-3-401 (1994). This Court will examine only those claims Plaintiffs assert against the Cache County School District under Title IX.

The third preliminary issue is whether Title IX actions require a plaintiff to show that defendants acted with the intent to discriminate on the basis of sex. Title IX was patterned after Title VI, which prohibits race-based discrimination. Cannon v. University of Chicago, 441 U.S. 677, 694, 99 S.Ct. 1946, 1956, 60 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Title VI was enacted pursuant to Congress' spending power. Guardians Ass'n v. Civil Service Comm'n, 463 U.S. 582, 599, 103 S.Ct. 3221, 3231, 77 L.Ed.2d 866 (1983) (plurality opinion); Bougher v. University of Pittsburgh, 713 F.Supp. 139, 145 (W.D.Pa.1989). Statutes adopted pursuant to Congress' spending power allow recovery only where plaintiffs show discriminatory intent. Guardians Ass'n, 463 U.S. at 603, 103 S.Ct. at 3233. See also Doe v. Petaluma Sch. Dist., 830 F.Supp. 1560, 1563 (N.D.Calif.1993). Consequently, this Court determines that a plaintiff must prove discriminatory intent in order to prevail under Title IX.

C. Sufficiency of Plaintiffs' Complaint

When reviewing Plaintiffs' Title IX claims pursuant to Defendants' Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, this Court accepts as true the factual allegations of Plaintiffs' Complaint and resolves all reasonable inferences in Plaintiffs' favor. See Arnold v. McClain, 926 F.2d 963, 965 (10th Cir.1991). This Court, however, does...