Doe v. Plymouth-Canton Cmty. Schs.

1

Jane Doe, Plaintiff, v. Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, et al., Defendants.

No. 19-10166

United States District Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division

June 3, 2022

Mag Judge Curtis Ivy, Jr.

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [37] AND GRANTING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT [33]

JUDITH E. LEVY, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

This is a sex-discrimination case. Before the Court are crossmotions for summary judgment filed by Plaintiff Jane Doe and Defendants Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (“PCCS”), Angel Lett, Montyne Barbee, Elizabeth Mosher, and Hal Heard III. (ECF Nos. 33, 37.) Doe, a ninth-grade student in the PCCS school district during the 2016-2017 school year and a tenth-grade student during the 2017-2018 school year, alleges that Defendants failed to prevent H.B., another PCCS student whom she briefly dated from sexually harassing her.

For the reasons set forth below, Doe's motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 37) is denied and Defendants' motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 33) is granted in part.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Facts

In the summer of 2016, just before Doe started ninth grade, Doe was involved in a brief romantic relationship with a PCCS high school student, H.B. During the two to three weeks that they dated, Doe told H.B. about the sexual assault she experienced as a child. Specifically, when Doe was two years old, she was sexually assaulted by a babysitter's husband and physically assaulted by her babysitter.^[1] (See, e.g., ECF No. 34, PageID.576-580.) Doe and H.B.'s relationship ended in August 2016.

In September 2016, Doe started ninth grade at Canton High School (“Canton”), a high school within the PCCS school district. Canton is co- located at the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (the “Park”) with two other PCCS high schools: Plymouth High School (“Plymouth”) and Salem High School (“Salem”). PCCS students attending schools at the Park may take classes at and use the facilities of all three schools but play sports for and graduate from their “home” school. (ECF No. 34, PageID.557.) In September 2016, H.B. started his junior year at Salem.

Shortly after she started school at Canton, Doe told PCCS employees that H.B. harassed her in the halls, during lunch, and during extracurricular activities. Although she states that she never talked to him, Doe estimates that H.B. called her derogatory names such as “bitch, ” “whore, ” and “slut, ” and made lewd gestures toward her at least once per week. (Id. at PageID.561-568.)

In response, Ms. Lett-who was the Assistant Principal at Salem- had several conversations with H.B. and spoke with his mother about his treatment of Doe. (See, e.g., ECF No. 33-6, PageID.240-241, 265.) H.B. denied having any “problems” with Doe, but Doe continued to report that H.B. harassed her at school.^[2] (Id. at PageID.240-241.) By October 2016, Ms. Lett instructed H.B. not to communicate with Doe in any way, including by social media or through third parties, and warned him and his family that discipline could “escalate” from this verbal instruction if he harassed Doe. (Id. at PageID.241.)

Doe made at least ten complaints about H.B.'s harassment to PCCS officials over the course of the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, which the Court sets forth below as Plaintiff does in her complaint. In the midst of these complaints of harassment, Doe attempted suicide in April 2017.

Although PCCS's Title IX Reporting Process and anti-harassment policy mandated that complaints of sexual harassment be reported to the Title IX coordinator (ECF No. 37-15), none of Doe's complaints were brought to the attention of PCCS's Title IX Coordinator until late 2018 (ECF No. 42-2, PageID.1317). Indeed, several PCCS officials to whom Doe complained, including Ms. Lett, Ms. Barbee, and Ms. Bean, either were not trained in PCCS Title IX procedures or could not remember having received such training prior to the incidents in this case. (See ECF No. 33-6, PageID.237; ECF No. 33-7, PageID.275; ECF No. 33-8, PageID.319.)

i. First Complaint

Around December 2016, Doe reported to her guidance counselor, Ms. Bean, that H.B. told one of Doe's friends that he hoped that Doe “would be raped again, ” referencing her sexual assault as a child. (See ECF No. 34-4, PageID.733.) Doe did not hear the comment herself, and H.B. “vehemently denied” Doe's allegation. (See ECF No. 33-6, PageID.251.) Doe wrote a statement describing her allegation, which PCCS did not corroborate.

Ms. Bean notified H.B.'s parent and Ms. Lett about the incident by email. (See ECF No. 34-4, PageID.733; ECF No. 33-15, PageID.419.) Within approximately one day of receiving Ms. Bean's email, Ms. Lett told H.B. not to discuss Doe in any way with anyone. In that same time frame, Ms. Bean referred Doe to counseling. (See ECF No. 33-6, PageID.268; ECF No. 34-39.)

ii. Second Complaint

At a school event called the Snowcoming Dance, which took place in February 2017, Doe reported to Ms. Bean that H.B. told Doe's friend, S.M.^[3], that H.B. “hoped [Doe] got raped again.” (ECF No. 34, PageID.592.) As with the incident leading to the first complaint, Doe did not directly hear H.B.'s comment. (See id.) Ms. Bean relayed Doe's report to Ms. Lett. Ms. Lett testifies that she participated in an investigation of Doe's complaint but that PCCS did not corroborate that H.B. made the comment.

There is conflicting evidence regarding the timing and substance of PCCS's investigation of Doe's complaint.^[4] However, it is uncontested that PCCS officials failed to interview Doe, who was not involved in the incident in any direct way, and that PCCS's Title IX Coordinator was not notified of the complaint during the 2016-2017 school year. (ECF No. 422, PageID.1317.)

iii. Spring Break Incident

Although the parties dispute whether this incident occurred^[5], Doe's mother, E.L., testifies that over PCCS's spring break in 2017, the word “whore” was written in animal feces on their garage, toilet paper was strewn around the outside of the house, their car's tires were flattened, and toilet paper with feces on it was smeared on the car. (Compare ECF No. 34-1, PageID.703, 725 with ECF No. 44, PageID.1884.) In her deposition, E.L. opines that although she is not “100 percent” certain who committed these acts of vandalism, she thinks that H.B. and his friends did it. (Id. at PageID.703.) PCCS did not investigate this incident.

iv. Third Complaint

Following the Snowcoming Dance, Doe reported to Ms. Bean that H.B.'s verbal harassment “picked up again.” (ECF No. 33-17, PageID.421.) Doe told Ms. Bean that she overheard H.B. calling her a “slut” and that he makes “puking noises” when she walks by, and that H.B. and another student had stuck up their middle finger at Doe. (Id.) Ms. Bean relayed Doe's complaint to Ms. Lett and H.B.'s counselor, Slavica Vldojevski. (See ECF No. 33-6, PageID.253.)

On April 11, 2017-soon after PCCS students returned to school after spring break-Doe reported to Ms. Bean that before spring break, H.B. had continued to verbally harass her and make gestures toward her. (ECF No. 34, PageID.599-600.)

v. Doe's Suicide Attempt And Hospitalization

On April 12, 2017, Doe overdosed on Adderall and went to school the next day. (Id. at PageID.615.) She was taken to the hospital on April 14, 2017, and was admitted for psychiatric care “following her 5th and most serious suicide attempt via adderall overdose.” (ECF No. 34-30.) Doe testifies that she attempted suicide because “[H.B.'s] harassment wasn't stopping.” (ECF No. 34, PageID.604.) Defendants contend that Doe's medical records reflect that she did not attempt suicide because of H.B.'s “cruel remarks” but rather because a student who attended another school, Eddy, ended his friendship with Doe hours before her attempted suicide; Eddy's friends joined the phone call and called Doe a “whore” and told her “she deserved to be raped.” (ECF No. 34-30, PageID.850; ECF No. 34-31, PageID.853.) Doe did not return to school until May 4, 2017. (See, e.g., ECF No. 34-7.)

PCCS and Doe's family agreed to several changes to facilitate Doe's safe return to school. (See, e.g., ECF No. 33-7, PageID.286.) To ease her social anxiety, Doe was given access to a Zen room to use when she felt anxious, her schedule was modified so that she would not have any classes in the same building as H.B., and she was eventually given an emergency hall pass. (See ECF No. 34-1, PageID.706.) To mitigate academic stress, Doe was provided extra time to complete assignments, was given fewer assignments, and was permitted to withdraw from a math class that she was failing at the time of her overdose. (Id.)

vi. Fourth Complaint

E.L. testifies in her deposition that after Doe returned to school in May 2017, Doe did not report any troubling interactions with H.B. (See Id. at PageID.707, 710.) However, E.L. also provides the conflicting testimony that on May 19, 2017, before the school year ended, H.B. followed Doe outside onto a pedestrian path and also waited for her at the top of the stairs.^[6] (See id. at PageID.707-709.) PCCS staff and School Resource Officers (“SROs”) reviewed video footage of the relevant areas from the date and time of the alleged incidents. (See ECF No. 34-12, PageID.787.) In an email dated June 1, 2017, Ms. Barbee, the assistant principal at Canton, notified E.L. that PCCS's video review did not substantiate Doe's claim. (See ECF No. 34-1, PageID.708.)

vii. Fifth And Sixth Complaints

Doe continued to run into H.B. while at school. On June 1, 2017 Doe report to the assistant principals that H.B. followed her. (See ECF No. 33-7, PageID.292.) Although video footage of the incident did not corroborate Doe's complaint (id.) and Doe...