Stover v. Coll. of William & Mary in Va.
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 4:21cv150 |
| Decision Date | 18 October 2022 |
| Citation | 635 F.Supp.3d 429 |
| Parties | Caroline STOVER, Plaintiff, v. The COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY IN VIRGINIA, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
Scott Gregory Crowley, Crowley & Crowley, Glen Allen, VA, for Plaintiff.
Amy Elizabeth Hensley, Sandra Snead Gregor, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, VA, for Defendants.
Before the Court are joint Motions to Dismiss ("Motions") filed by the College of William and Mary in Virginia ("W & M"), W & M President Katherine R. Rowe ("President Rowe"), former W & M Athletic Director Samantha K. Huge ("AD Huge"), former W & M Head Women's Basketball Coach Edward Swanson ("Coach Swanson"), Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Michelle Kurowski ("Coach Kurowski"), and W & M Assistant Athletic Director for Business Affairs Nate Engelhardt ("AAD Engelhardt") (collectively, "Defendants"). Defs.' Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 5 ("12(b)(1) Mot. Dismiss"); Defs.' Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 7 ("12(b)(6) Mot. Dismiss"). Defendants move to dismiss Caroline Stover's ("Plaintiff") Complaint in its entirety pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Id.; Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(1) Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 6 ( ); Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(6) Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 8 ( ). Having reviewed the parties' filings in this case, the Court finds that this matter is now ripe for judicial determination. See Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(1); Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(6); Pl.'s Mem. in Opp'n to Defs.' 12(b)(1) Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 12 ("Pl.'s 12(b)(1) Mem. Opp'n"); Pl.'s Mem. in Opp'n to Defs.' 12(b)(6) Mot. Dismiss, ECF No. 13 ("Pl.'s 12(b)(6) Mem. Opp'n"); Defs.' Reply to Pl.'s 12(b)(1) Mem. Opp'n, ECF No. 14 ("Defs.' 12(b)(1) Reply"); Defs.' Reply to Pl.'s 12(b)(6) Mem. Opp'n, ECF No. 15 ("Defs.' 12(b)(6) Reply"). Upon review, the Court finds that a hearing on these Motions is not necessary. Hr'g Request, ECF No. 16; See E.D. Va. Local Civ. R. 7(J). For the reasons stated herein, Defendants' 12(b)(1) Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED and Defendant's 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.
On November 30, 2021, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Defendants. Compl., ECF No. 1. Relevant to Defendants' Motions to Dismiss and stated in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, the following facts are drawn from the Complaint and attachments thereto. See Adams v. Bain, 697 F.2d 1213, 1219 (4th Cir. 1982).
At the time this action was filed, Plaintiff Caroline Stover was a senior at Defendant College of William and Mary in Virginia ("W & M" or the "University"). Compl. at 2. W & M is a higher education institution that receives federal funding and is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Id. At all relevant times, the individual defendants in this action, including W & M President Rowe, AD Huge, Head Coach Swanson, Coach Kurowski, and AAD Engelhardt, were employed by W & M. Id.
Plaintiff attended the University on an athletic scholarship and was a member of the W & M women's basketball team from 2018-2022. Id. at 3. To remain on an athletic scholarship, Plaintiff was required to maintain a 2.5 grade point average ("GPA"). Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(6), Ex. A at 11. Because Plaintiff was unable to meet the GPA requirement as a freshman, Coach Swanson directed her to live on campus as a sophomore to focus on her academic performance. Compl. at ¶ 10. In compliance, Plaintiff lived in a W & M dormitory and participated in the college meal plan but "regularly visited and spent time with her friends" at a nearby town-house located off campus. Id. at ¶ 11.
The events relevant to this action occurred on Sunday, October 27, 2019. Id. at ¶ 9. "After becoming suspicious that Plaintiff was not complying with the on-campus requirement," at least one member of W & M's athletic staff drove by the off-campus townhouse to try to collect evidence of Plaintiff living off campus. Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(1) at 2. While parked in the townhouse driveway, Plaintiff alleges that she observed "a silver sedan driven by a man" that she did not recognize "driving slowly and repeatedly past the house." Compl. at ¶ 12. Plaintiff further alleges that the "driver then parked behind Plaintiffs [vehicle] and began either taking photographs or making a video of Plaintiff with his cell phone" before driving away. Id. Following these events, Plaintiff decided to leave the house and began to drive back to the W & M campus, "only to note that the silver sedan was following her vehicle." Id. at ¶ 13. Plaintiff alleges that the vehicle was occupied by a male driver and had a Florida State University license plate frame and W & M Faculty/Staff parking badge hanging from the rearview mirror. Id. at ¶ 14. Plaintiff did not get the license plate number of the car, and eventually the sedan stopped following Plaintiff and drove away. Id. In response to these events, Plaintiff texted one of her teammates that she was being "followed" and was "scared" before reporting the incident to the James City County Police Department. Id. at ¶ 13-14.
The next day, on Monday, October 28, 2019, Plaintiff identified the same silver sedan in a W & M parking lot next to the Athletic Center and learned that the car belonged to Defendant AAD Engelhardt. Id. at ¶ 15. At that time, AAD Engelhardt was the boyfriend of Defendant Coach Kurowski, the W & M Assistant Women's Basketball Coach. Id. "Knowing that she had been followed by a member of W & M athletic department made [Plaintiff] more frightened and confused, and she mentioned the incident on the morning of October 28 to an athletic trainer employed by W & M." Id. Plaintiff's report of the incident was then shared with both an athletics department administrator and W & M's Office of Compliance and Equity. Id.
That same day Plaintiff met with Coach Swanson and a teammate about Plaintiff's visits to the off-campus townhouse. In the meeting, Coach Swanson admitted to personally observing and documenting Plaintiff's vehicle off campus during her visits to the town house. Coach Swanson also "threatened that if he were to see [Plaintiff's] car at the [town house] again, he would kick [Plaintiff] . . . off of the Women's Basketball Team" and revoke her athletic scholarship. Id. at ¶ 16. "Upon information and belief, in light of [Coach] Swanson's admission to [Plaintiff], [AAD] Engelhardt was asked or volunteered to surveil and document [Plaintiff]'s presence at the house of her friends on a Sunday afternoon in an effort to build a case that she was not complying with [Coach] Swanson's directive to live at the dormitory, and so that her basketball scholarship could be revoked." Id. at ¶ 17.
W & M's Office of Compliance and Equity initiated an investigation the next day, and conducted interviews with Plaintiff, Coach Swanson, Coach Kurowski and AAD Engelhardt. Id. at ¶¶ 18, 20. No members of the women's basketball team, including Plaintiff's teammate who participated in Plaintiff's October 28, 2019 meeting with Coach Swanson, were interviewed as a part of the investigation. Id. at ¶¶ 26. In the investigation, Coach Kurowski alleged that she, along with her boyfriend AAD Engelhardt, drove by the off-campus town-house to check if Plaintiff was complying with Coach Swanson's directives to reside on-campus, upon suspicions that Plaintiff was residing in the townhouse. Id. at ¶¶ 20, 24-25. Coach Kurowski also told the Office of Compliance and Equity that her decision to check on Plaintiff's whereabouts on October 27, 2019 was made on her own accord. Defs.' Mem. Supp. 12(b)(6) at 6.
Plaintiff claims that Coach Swanson enlisted the help of Coach Kurowski and AAD Engelhardt to stalk and harass Plaintiff based on suspicions that Plaintiff was living off campus in violation of Coach Swanson's directives. Id. ¶¶ 16-17. Plaintiff also alleges that W & M's investigation and subsequent report on the incident "scapegoat[ed]" Coach Kurowski for her role in checking on Plaintiffs off campus whereabouts. Id. at ¶ 31. Therefore, the University's punishment of only Coach Kurowski and not Coach Swanson or AAD Engelhardt shows discrimination against women students and staff members, and a deliberate indifference to Title IX violations of the rights of female employees. Id. at ¶¶ 29, 31. Additionally, Plaintiff claims that since her initial report and the subsequent W & M investigation Coach Swanson has retaliated against Plaintiff by directing her teammates to publicly "berate" Plaintiff as a group via Zoom, solely excluding Plaintiff from a committee of all upperclassmen members of the women's basketball team, and limiting her playing time. Id. at ¶¶ 37-38. Plaintiff also notes that AAD Engelhardt has continued to document Plaintiff's whereabouts through improper surveillance, demonstrating a continued pattern of stalking and harassment. Id. at ¶ 39.
Finally, Plaintiff claims that President Rowe and AD Huge have refused to hold Coach Swanson and AAD Engelhardt accountable for their retaliatory conduct and continued harassment of Plaintiff. Id. at ¶¶ 40-45. Specifically, Plaintiff claims that President Rowe demonstrated an "apparent lack of concern with the perpetuation and promotion of a false narrative by the Compliance Office in order to protect Coach Swanson in his abuse of students who are members of the women's basketball team." Plaintiff also claims that AD Huge refused to end Coach Swanson's retaliation and exhibited a deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's rights and the rights of "other members of the women's basketball team to be afforded equal educational opportunity to their male counterparts in violation of Title IX." Id. at ¶¶ 41, 43.
Plaintiff alleges that as a result of these events she suffered aggravated anxiety and emotional harm that caused her to...
To continue reading
Request your trial