Jane Doe v. Mastoloni

JANE DOE, a Connecticut resident; JOHNDOE, a Connecticut resident; and J.D., aConnecticut resident, Plaintiffs, v. TANYA MASTOLONI (aka Tanya Romero),a Connecticut resident; REBECCAKESSLER (nee Wills), a Connecticutresident; CHRISTOPHER ESPOSITO, aCalifornia resident; LAURA SULLIVAN, aConnecticut resident; AVON PUBLICSCHOOLS, a Connecticut public school district, Defendants.

3:14-CV-00718 (CSH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT

February 12, 2016

RULING ON MOTION TO AMEND THE COMPLAINT AND MOTION TO DISMISS THE PROPOSED AMENDED COMPLAINT

HAIGHT, Senior District Judge:

Plaintiffs Jane and John Doe ("Jane" and "John"), Connecticut residents whose names have been changed to protect the identity of their minor children, claim that three Spanish teachers and a guidance counselor at Avon High School indoctrinated their three daughters into a religious cult. Plaintiffs allege that with their help, J.D., Jane's and John's youngest daughter, broke free from the indoctrination. It is further alleged that J.D.'s older sisters, E.D. and L.D., are fully indoctrinated into the cult and are estranged from the family. They are not parties to this lawsuit.

Plaintiffs Jane and John Doe, each individually and on behalf of J.D., bring this action against Avon Public Schools ("the Board"), and against the Spanish teachers, Tanya Mastoloni, Rebecca Kessler (nee Wills), Christopher Esposito, and the guidance counselor, Laura Sullivan (collectively, the "Faculty Defendants"). The complaint asserts federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986, as well as claims under the Connecticut Constitution, Connecticut General Statutes and the common law.

Plaintiffs have filed a motion to amend their complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a)(2) and a proposed amended complaint. The Board has filed a preemptive motion to dismiss the proposed amended complaint pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). This Ruling decides Plaintiffs' motion to amend the complaint and the Board's preemptive motion to dismiss it.

I

The following facts are derived from the proposed amended complaint [Doc. 67-2]. They do not represent findings by the Court. Well-pleaded allegations of fact are accepted as true for the purposes of this Ruling and recited so that the Court may discern the viability of the proposed claims under the governing law.

Tanya Mastoloni taught E.D., L.D., and J.D. (collectively "the Doe Daughters") Spanish at Avon High School. Although not part of the course curriculum, Mastoloni instructed students in "religion and pseudoscience," and "to believe in superstition, magic, and a non-scientific, anti-intellectual worldview." Doc. 67-2 at ¶ 61.¹ Concepts like "spirituality, numerology, astrology, dreams, mysticism, looking for 'signs,' angels, symbols, 'synchronicity,' 'negativity,' 'seeking the truth,' and death" were regular topics of discussion in Mastoloni's Spanish class. Id. In one class, Mastoloni directed her students to write an essay in Spanish "about what they thought happened to them when they died." Id. at ¶ 62. Mastoloni's colleague in the Spanish Department, Kessler, also talked about death in the classroom, using "class time to tell her students about the deaths ofchildren." Id. at ¶ 63.

Mastoloni and Kessler, along with the third Spanish teacher, Esposito, were known collectively about school as "Tri-State," a reference to the fact that one was born in New York, one in New Jersey, and the other in Connecticut. Id. at ¶ 39. The three teachers spent much of their time with Sullivan, the school's guidance counselor. Id. at ¶ 40. All four were "adherents of a religious cult that promotes martyrdom and celebrates death." Id. at ¶ 65.

Mastoloni began recruiting E.D., the eldest Doe Daughter, into this "religious cult," id., or "coven," id. at ¶ 268, when Kessler, E.D.'s freshman year Spanish teacher, introduced E.D. to Mastoloni in the faculty lounge, id. at ¶ 76. Their relationship intensified when Mastoloni became E.D.'s Spanish teacher in her sophomore year. Id. at ¶ 101. Mastoloni "consistently proselytized her religious views in the classroom" and taught "E.D. and the other students to believe in superstition and magic." Id. at ¶ 102. Mastoloni found a particularly "impressionable" student in E.D., id. at ¶ 89, who while "extremely intelligent and gifted," ""lack[ed] . . . friends," was "bullied in elementary and middle school," and "related more to adults than to peers her own age," id. at ¶¶ 66-68.

E.D. spent a significant amount of time with Mastoloni. They ate lunch together during school hours, and communicated via email, phone and text outside of school. Id. at ¶¶ 107, 110. E.D. also agreed to be a teaching assistant for Mastoloni, as well as Esposito and Kessler, often staying after school to help grade papers. Id. at ¶¶ 83, 115. Sometimes E.D. would leave school grounds to have lunch with the three Spanish teachers. Id. at ¶ 92. She was even invited by Kessler to attend her children's birthday parties. Id. at ¶ 91. Esposito, for his part, was "inappropriately intrusive" with E.D., asking her on one occasion "about the sexual orientation of her siblings." Id.at ¶ 136.

Back at home, Jane and John were troubled by what they viewed as the Spanish teachers' "lack of boundaries" and "Mastoloni's inappropriate engagement" with their daughter. Id. at ¶ 104. Though concerned about the nature of E.D.'s relationships with her teachers, Jane and John "were unaware that . . . Mastoloni was teaching religion in the classroom." Id.

Over time, E.D.'s relationship with Mastoloni turned "highly manipulative." Id. at ¶ 117. Mastoloni was given to "extreme mood swings," id. at ¶55, and "would frequently switch between two extremes," at times "showering E.D. with love and affection" and at other times, "giving her the cold shoulder." Id. at ¶ 118. By E.D.'s senior year, "Mastoloni's attention to E.D. became even more intense." Id. at ¶ 129. She professed to E.D. that E.D. was her "sole hermana." Id. at ¶ 109. When E.D. turned eighteen, Mastoloni promised that the two would "be friends outside of school." Id. at ¶ 130 (internal quotation marks omitted). In fact, "[t]he summer before E.D. began college, her relationship with . . . Mastoloni intensified" yet further. Id. at ¶ 138. Later, when E.D. left home to attend Wellesley College, the two continued to communicate throughout the year and met socially during school breaks. Id. at ¶ 163. E.D. also visited with Esposito and Kessler during college recesses. Id. at ¶ 164.

While away at college, E.D. began increasingly interested in religion and the occult. She "and other girls would frequently go to" a "desolate" building on Wellesley's campus called "Alumni Hall," where they would "dance, sing and perform 'whirling dervishes' — religious dances — until the wee hours of the morning." Id. at ¶ 173. During her junior year of college, E.D. changed her major from political science to philosophy, and "announced that she wanted to seek a masters in Divinity following graduation." Id. at ¶¶ 184-85. She also "told Jane and John that she wanted toattend . . . Mastoloni's graduation from some type of school where . . . Mastoloni was receiving a degree in 'spirituality.'" Id. at ¶ 181. E.D.'s "sudden interest in religion" corresponded with significant changes to her personality. Id. at ¶¶ 186-214 She was "often irritable and emotional," id. at ¶ 189, had "trouble 'thinking,'" id. at ¶ 188, was "nervous" around her parents, id. at ¶ 187, and lost her sense of humor, id. at ¶ 197. She also started to speak, and even smell differently. E.D. was "constantly talking about 'seeking the truth' and pursuing a 'greater purpose,'" id. at ¶ 192, and "no longer engaged in ordinary verbal banter or back-and-forth discussion," id. at ¶ 194. Her mother began "to notice a very odd and pungent odor coming from [her] room," id. at ¶ 198, that was also "enmeshed in . . . her clothes," id. at ¶ 199. As E.D. underwent all of these changes, she grew apart from her family, all the while maintaining her friendship with Mastoloni, Kessler, Esposito and Sullivan. Id. at ¶¶ 210-14.

With E.D. away at college, Mastoloni began focusing her attention on L.D., who was a student in Mastoloni's advanced Spanish class during her senior year of high school. Id. at ¶ 215. In keeping with past practice, Mastoloni continued to "proselytize[] her religious views" and to teach students to "believe in superstition and magic." Id. at ¶ 216. She also began indoctrinating L.D. into her religion. Id. at ¶ 225. At the same time, Sullivan urged L.D. to attend Wellesley College after graduation so that the Faculty Defendants would have an easier time keeping the sisters indoctrinated. Id. at ¶ 228. L.D. decided to attend Wellesley, where she grew closer to E.D. and more isolated from the rest of the family. Id. at ¶¶ 229-30. She "developed a fascination with dreams, astrology, and 'symbols,'" id. at ¶ 233, and continued to stay in touch with Mastoloni who would visit the sisters at college, id. at ¶ 237. L.D. ultimately became "fully indoctrinated" into the religion of the Faculty Defendants and "began to engage in fantasies of martydom and suicidalideation." Id. at ¶ 262.

In the spring semester of 2013, Mastoloni tried to recruit J.D. into her "coven." Id. at ¶ 268. Mastoloni continued to "preach her religious ideas" in the classroom and directed a great deal of "negative attention towards J.D. in an effort to break her down psychologically." Id. at ¶ 269. She was "relentless in her chiding of J.D.," id. at ¶ 271, once "admonish[ing] her for getting a "C" on a test" in front of the class, id. at ¶ 270, and on another occasion, forcing her to sing in front of the class, id. at ¶ 279. Mastoloni also frequently "discussed J.D.'s academic performance with E.D." Id. at ¶ 281. For instance, she told E.D. that J.D. received a "C" on an assignment and also showed E.D. an essay J.D. wrote about her "New Year's...