RULING: Judge Dismisses Defamation Case of HS Male Falsely Accused of Sexual Assault
A federal judge has dismissed the defamation case of a high school student accused of sexual assault by four other students, but who then had the charges dropped against him after two of the accusing students admitted they lied.
Parents Michael and Alecia Flood and their minor son, T.F., filed the lawsuit against four other students, K.S., C.S., E.S., and H.R., their parents, and the Seneca Valley School District in Pennsylvania, on grounds that their son was the victim of defamatory statements when two of the minor defendants admitted they lied in accusing him of sexual assault. Though the charges against T.F. were ultimately dismissed, the four accusing students were never punished.
The plaintiffs alleged that the school district violated the 14thAmendment and discriminated against T.F. on the basis of sex when the school district enforced its student discipline policies based on the sexual assault accusations made against him. The Floods and their son said the school district had punished T.F. based on the false accusations, but failed to punish the accusing students for lying.
In his opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark R. Hornak in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, wrote that the Floods’ complaint “fails to plead that a final policymaker took any action toward T.F. that could represent official policy attributable to the school district.” Hornak continued: The court also concludes that the amended complaint fails to plead that any final policymaker of the school district had knowledge or constructive knowledge of prior events of sexual misconduct such that any final policymaker could have been “deliberately indifferent” to the need for additional safeguards against disparate applications of school district policy.
clarion.causeaction breitbart-Dr. Susan Berry
