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7th District affirms school district immunity finding in coach abuse case

TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter

Published: February 5, 2019

There is no evidence officials with St. Clairsville Schools had reason to suspect a high school softball coach was molesting a student.

Therefore, a Belmont County trial court properly concluded that Superintendent Walter E. Skaggs and Athletic Director Kelly Rine were entitled to immunity, the 7th District Court of Appeals recently found.

Appellants John, Jane and Joy Doe appealed a January 2018 trial court decision granting summary judgment in favor of Skaggs, Rine and the school district, arguing R.C. 2744.02(B)(2), (5) and R.C. 2744.03(A)(1)(b) and (c) stripped the appellees of their immunity.

Seventh District judges Cheryl L. Waite, Gene Donofrio and Carol Ann Robb unanimously affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

According to case summary, Joy Doe was a student and softball player at St. Clairsville High School while R.D. – a nonparty to the appeal – was the softball coach.

Skaggs testified that R.D. had been the coach for 10 years. His coaching certificate expired either just before the softball season or midway through it. Although the paperwork, coaching class and background check had been completed, the certification process had been pending due to a payment or paperwork issue.

Doe met R.D. in sixth grade while taking private pitching lessons. In high school, the two developed a closer relationship and they began having sexual relations in her sophomore year.

Doe testified she visited R.D.’s house multiple times a week for sex, telling her father R.D. was helping her contact college coaches about a potential softball scholarship.

During this time, R.D. and Doe reportedly exchanged more than 10,000 text messages. One text from R.D. stated she would kill herself if anyone discovered the relationship. Doe’s mother expressed concerns that R.D. had given her daughter several gifts, but the girl’s parents admitted they never went to the school with their concerns.

The relationship came to light in May of Doe’s senior year after someone showed the superintendent a photograph of R.D. and Doe sitting on a bus with one of their knees near the other’s crotch. Doe was confronted and confirmed abuse had taken place.

Skaggs immediately went to the softball field where R.D. was preparing for a game and fired her. R.D. later pleaded guilty to several counts of gross sexual conduct and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

In February 2017, the girl’s family filed a civil complaint for sexual assault and battery, as well as negligent retention/negligent supervision, tort of outrage/negligent infliction of emotional distress. R.D. was also personally named as a defendant, but there were issues with service and she did not answer the complaint. The complaint was later amended to sexual assault and battery, plus reckless, willful, wanton and intentional conduct of St. Clairsville Schools.

The mandatory reporting statute, R.C. 2151.421, requires educators and school personnel to identify and report suspected abuse. A political subdivision is generally immune from liability for employee actions except under certain exemptions under R.C. 2744.02(B).

The dispute centered around whether the district was stripped of immunity relative to any of the exceptions found in R.C. 2744.02(B), which include employee negligence that occurs on the grounds of buildings used with the performance of a governmental function.

The panel determined that because political subdivisions are not mandated to report, civil liability cannot be imposed - meaning R.C. 2151.421 does not apply to St. Clairsville.

The appellate courts also found the district did not fail to fulfill its duties under R.C. 3319.073 which requires boards of education to adopt curriculum to prevent child abuse.

“There is no evidence here that St. Clairsville did not meet these standards,” Judge Waite wrote in her opinion.

The judge noted that all Skaggs’ staff participates in an anti-child abuse and substance abuse program called Public School Works, which includes training on sexual predators, inappropriate relationships and sexual grooming.

The panel also found the officials should not be stripped of their individual immunity either since they cannot legally monitor employees’ phones and there was nothing in R.D.’s social media accounts that would have alerted them to an improper relationship with Doe.

“Appellants’ argument is based on a belief that they should have known about the abuse,” Judge Waite said in the opinion. “However, there is no case law imposing liability on school employees or administrators because they ‘should have known’ about potential abuse. In fact, case law has held that individual defendants cannot be liable for acts of which they had no knowledge. Here, Skaggs and Rine urge that they did not have knowledge of R.D.’s behavior until May of 2015. Once they had such knowledge, R.D. was immediately terminated.”

In addition, none of the sexual encounters occurred on school grounds, the judge added.

The matter is remanded to address the personal liability of R.D. due to the service issue.

The case is cited Doe v. Skaggs, 2018-Ohio-5402.


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