M.Q. v. Phenix City Bd. of Educ.

M.Q., a minor child, by and through her parents and next friends,CHARLES and JOSEPHINE K., Plaintiff,

v. PHENIX CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION,PHENIX CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, DR. LARRY DiCHIARA,in his individual and official capacities, ANNE PHILLIPS, in her individualand official capacities, DAVID WILSON, in his individualand official capacities, JENNIFER DAWN YOUNG,in her individual capacity, Defendants.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:12-cv-313-WHA (WO)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA EASTERN DIVISION

Done: August 5, 2013

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION

This case is before the court on two Motions for Summary Judgment filed on June 7, 2013. The first Motion was filed by the Phenix City Board of Education ("the Board") and by Dr. Larry DiChiara ("DiChiara"), Anne Phillips ("Phillips"), and David Wilson ("Wilson") in their official capacities (Doc. #44), and the second Motion was filed by DiChiara, Phillips, and Wilson in their individual capacities (Doc. #46). The Plaintiff, M.Q., a minor child suing through her mother Josephine K. and her stepfather Charles K., filed a Complaint in this case on April 5, 2012, and later filed a First Amended Complaint (Doc. #39) on June 5, 2012, alleging violations under 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. ("Title IX"), violations of due process and equalprotection pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and various state law claims.¹ The Plaintiff seeks compensatory damages and also requests punitive damages, alleging that the actions of the Defendants were done with malice, recklessness, and with deliberate indifference toward the Plaintiff. For the reasons to be discussed, the Motions for Summary Judgment are due to be GRANTED.

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT STANDARD

Summary judgment is proper "if there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986).

The party asking for summary judgment "always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion," relying on submissions "which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." Id. at 323. Once the moving party has met its burden, the nonmoving party must "go beyond the pleadings" and show that there is a genuine issue for trial. Id. at 324.

Both the party "asserting that a fact cannot be," and a party asserting that a fact is genuinely disputed, must support their assertions by "citing to particular parts of materials in therecord," or by "showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A), (B). Acceptable materials under Rule 56(c)(1)(A) include "depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials."

To avoid summary judgment, the nonmoving party "must do more than show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts." Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986). On the other hand, the evidence of the non-movant must be believed and all justifiable inferences must be drawn in its favor. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 255 (1986).

After the nonmoving party has responded to the motion for summary judgment, the court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

III. FACTS

The submissions of the parties establish the following facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the Plaintiff:

At the start of the 2010-2011 school year, the Plaintiff M.Q. was a ninth-grade student at Central Freshman Academy ("CFA"). Her junior varsity cheerleading coach was Jennifer Dawn Young ("Young"), an employee of the Phenix City Board of Education ("Board"), who worked at Central High School ("CHS"), a separate building from CFA. M.Q. and Young often exchangedFacebook messages and emails, and Young gave M.Q. several gifts, including clothing and a Rolex watch. The two became close, and on some occasions Young told M.Q. that she would commit suicide if M.Q. ever left her.

On October 10, 2010, Josephine K., M.Q.'s mother, discovered Facebook and email messages on M.Q.'s computer that had been sent between Young and M.Q. Several of the exchanges stated that Young wanted M.Q. to erase their messages because Young did not want "anything to be misunderstood." One of the messages was a letter in which Young stated that she loved M.Q. "like a sister" and "not in an inappropriate way." The message from Young also stated that "you are the best thing that's happened to me . . . and I'd never do anything to jeapordize [sic] that. Part of me would forever be missing without you." Josephine K. went to CFA and showed Principal Anne Phillips ("Phillips") the last of four pages of messages she had copied, after which Phillips called Angela Clark, the School Resource Officer assigned to CFA and CHS by the Phenix City Police Chief ("SRO Clark").² Officer Rogers, a police officer, arrived and asked Josephine K. some questions. M.Q. was then checked out of school and Officer Rogers and Officer Jason Whitten accompanied Josephine K. and M.Q. to the Child Advocacy Center where M.Q. was interviewed. Later that day, Officer Rogers came to M.Q.'s house and took her computer and told Josephine K. that he had told Young to stay away from M.Q. Josephine K. told M.Q. that she was not to ride with Young anymore.

Josephine K. visited the school a second time on November 17, 2010. She asked Phillips to remove Young as assistant cheerleading coach. On that day Josephine K. also warned M.Q.that she would be punished if she did not stay away from Young, which caused M.Q. to become upset. That afternoon, Josephine K. drove M.Q. to cheerleading before a JV basketball game, unaware that M.Q. had overdosed on some pills from the house—later determined to be Ibuprofen and Flexeril—in an apparent suicide attempt. During the basketball game, the head cheerleading coach noticed M.Q. acting strangely and drove her to the emergency room. The coach called Josephine K., who came to the hospital, and also called David Wilson ("Wilson") the Director of Operations of the Board. Wilson then called Dr. Larry DiChiara ("DiChiara"), the Superintendent, to apprise him of the situation. The next day Phillips and SRO Clark met to discuss the incident.

M.Q. was admitted into the Bradley Center, a psychiatric treatment facility, on November 18 and remained until November 23.³ On November 19, Josephine K. and Charles K., M.Q.'s stepfather, and Debbie Coulter met with Wilson and showed him some other messages from Young that instructed M.Q. to delete them and some gifts that Young had given M.Q. This meeting took place a day after Wilson learned that the same student that was in the hospital was the one that was involved in the Young investigation. Wilson then met with DiChiara, who directed Wilson to speak to the police department about their investigation of the events surrounding Young and M.Q. Officer Rogers told Wilson that the police department was waiting for the analysis of Young's computer. Wilson and DiChiara decided to place Young on administrative leave from her cheerleading duties, which Young protested, asking Wilson to ask DiChiara to reconsider. DiChiara refused to reconsider, and he and Wilson completed the letterthat placed Young on administrative leave until further notice. Wilson met with Young on November 23 and gave her the letter. M.Q. returned to school after the Thanksgiving holidays on November 29, 2010.

At no time during these contacts by Josephine K. with school officials or officers did Josephine K. say that she thought anything of a sexual nature was going on between Young and M.Q.

M.Q. continued to have contact with Young. Sometime in February 2011, M.Q. began going from the CFA building to the CHS building almost every morning before school to visit Young. It was against school policy for students to go between campuses without permission. M.Q. also visited the drama teacher at CHS on two occasions to cover up her visits with Young and, when asked, told the monitor at CHS that she was there to visit the drama teacher. One morning at the end of February or the beginning of March, M.Q. went to Young's classroom upset because M.Q. had just ended her relationship with her boyfriend. After talking for a few minutes, Young took M.Q. behind the bookshelf in her office and performed oral sex. Afterwards, M.Q. went back to CFA for the rest of the school day and did not tell anyone what had happened. This was the only incident of any sexual contact by Young with M.Q. M.Q. did not visit Young in the CHS building again until the morning of March 4.

On March 3, 2011, Wilson was notified by the assistant principal at CHS that there were reports that M.Q. had been visiting Young early in the mornings. On March 4, SRO Clark met with the assistant principal early to watch and see if M.Q. came to the CHS building. When M.Q. was discovered at CHS, Wilson and DiChiara discussed the matter, and that afternoon DiChiara placed Young on administrative leave from all of her duties. Young was instructed notto be present on school grounds or to have contact with any student. On March 11, 2011, Young resigned from her employment with the Board. There is no evidence that any school officials had any knowledge at that time of the single sexual contact with M.Q. by Young.

IV. DISCUSSION

Five of the counts in M.Q.'s Amended Complaint (Doc. #39) are at issue. Count One is a claim against the Board for alleged violations of Title IX, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. Count Two is brought against all Defendants pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983...