Bell v. Board of Education

225 F.R.D. 186, 60 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 400, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25368, 2004 WL 2914903
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. West Virginia
DecidedDecember 3, 2004
DocketNo. CIV.A.5:03-0334
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 225 F.R.D. 186 (Bell v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Board of Education, 225 F.R.D. 186, 60 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 400, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25368, 2004 WL 2914903 (S.D.W. Va. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

VANDERVORT, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiffs remaining claim in this case is that Defendant Friedrichs, formerly a teacher and/or principal in the Fayette County Schools, was known by the Board and “Supervising Defendants” to be a pedophile and they, “in spite of such knowledge, failed to take any precautions or actions to prevent Friedrichs from inflicting harm upon young, male elementary children enrolled in the Fayette County School system.” (Document No. 1, ¶ 10.). Plaintiff claims that as a consequence on November 8, 1997, Defendant Friedrichs administered drugs to Jeremy Bell, Plaintiffs decedent and a student of Fayette County schools, in the course of sexually assaulting him and caused Jeremy’s death thus violating Jeremy’s civil rights in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983. (Id., ¶ 22.)

The following Motions are pending: Motion by Paul M. Blake, Jr., to Amend Order of September 3, 2004 (Document No. 137.), Motion for Protective Order to Quash the Depositions of Larry Dotson, Garland Burke and Everett Steele or Alternatively to Seal their Depositions (Document No. 142.), Motion for Protective Order to Quash the Deposition of Paul M. Blake, Jr., or Alternatively to Seal His Deposition (Document No. 144.), Motion to Supplement and/or Amend Order of September 3, 2004 (Document No. 145.). The Court finds that the Motions of Officers Dotson, Burke and Steele and Mr. Blake to Quash or Alternatively to Seal their Depositions (Document Nos. 142 and 144.) should be DENIED. The Court finds that the Motions to Amend Order of September 3, 2004 (Document Nos. 137 and 145.), considered Motions to permit the attorneys for the deponents to read the transcript of the deposition of Sheriff Laird, should be GRANTED.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

By Order filed on November 10, 2003, Judge Haden granted “judgment in favor of Defendants on Plaintiffs Title IX claims and the claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 arising from his decedent’s wrongful death ----” (Document No. 32.) By Memorandum Opinion and Order filed the same day, Judge Haden denied Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for failure to state a § 1983 supervisory liability cause of action. (Document No. 31.) Finding allegations contained in the Complaint that school system officials knew of [188]*188Mr. Friedrichs’ proclivities and failed to prevent him from acting upon them thereby causing Jeremy Bell’s constitutional injury adequate under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Judge Haden stated that “[wjhether the causal nexus between the supervisory actions or inaction and Jeremy’s constitutional injuries ultimately is established is a question of fact that must be left for the appropriate time.” {Id., p. 23.)1 Plaintiff has the burden of proving it.2 With respect to Defendants’ statute of limitations defense, Judge Haden stated as follows addressing issues of accrual and tolling:

Jeremy’s injury, the deprivation of his constitutional rights to be free of sexual abuse, accrued at the latest at the time of his death. Jeremy died on November 8, 1997. In this civil rights action the injury complained of is the deliberate indifference of Friedrichs’ supervisors to his conduct leading to Jeremy’s injuries. When that claim accrued is a related but independent question. Plaintiff argues he had no information that Friedrichs’ supervisors had been deliberately indifferent to Friedrichs’ conduct that endangered Jeremy until an investigator hired by the family provided a report about the Fayette County Board of Education on April 15, 2001. The action was brought on April 15, 2003.

;H # ❖ ❖ # N*

When the inquiry duty arose in this case, whether Plaintiff employed due diligence to inquire, and when he should have known of the supervisors’ alleged malfeasance are all fact questions not amenable to a motion to dismiss. * * *

The parties have also argued whether Defendants fraudulently concealed their knowledge of and indifference to Friedrichs’ other bad conduct relevant to the allegations here. * * * To toll the statute’s running, “a plaintiff must state a strong showing of fraudulent concealment, inability to comprehend the injury, or other extreme hardship[.J” The contention raises further questions, which ultimately must be determined by a fact-finder.

{Id., pp. 15 — 18 (citation and footnote omitted)) Thus, Judge Haden clearly stated the factual and legal issues presented by the parties’ claims and defenses and their respective burdens of proof.

Having made their disclosures pursuant to Rule 26(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Document Nos. 27 and 29.) and engaged in written discovery (Document Nos. 30 and 33 — 35.), the parties began taking depositions in April, 2004. Plaintiff subpoenaed William R. Laird, IV, currently Sheriff of Fayette County, West Virginia, to appear for deposition in May, 2004, and bring with him the “entire criminal investigation file ... in the case of State v. Edgar W. Friedrichs, Jr., now pending in the Circuit Court of Fayette County, West Virginia.” (Document No. 62.) Sheriff Laird, represented by Thomas J. Steele, Jr., Assistant Prosecuting Attorney of Fayette County, West Virginia, moved to quash the subpoena. (Document No. 59.) By Order filed on June 9, 2004, the Court found in view of the fact that criminal proceedings are pending against Mr. Friedrichs that the law enforcement privilege as codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7) and W.Va.Code § 29B-1-4(a)(4) applied and stated that “the exemptions for law enforcement investigative records serve an important purpose, and the Federal exemption clearly contemplates deprivation of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudica[189]*189tion as one reason that such records should not be disclosed. This is directly in line with the concerns of the State in the instant case.” The Court therefore granted Sheriff Laird’s Motion to Quash the subpoena to the extent that it required that he bring the criminal investigation file respecting Mr. Friedrichs and denied the Motion to the extent that it required Sheriff Laird’s deposition. (Document No. 66.) Plaintiff took Sheriff Laird’s deposition on July 13 and 14, 2004. (Document Nos. 72 and 76.)

Defendants took no position respecting the subpoena of Sheriff Laird’s deposition, but filed a Motion to Seal it on August, 12, 2004, claiming that Sheriff Laird identified thirteen people who allegedly had some involvement with Defendant Friedrichs and six current and/or former employees of Defendant Board of Education who are not parties to these proceedings and asserting that “[publication of Sheriff Laird’s deposition would violate the right to confidentiality of the students and school employees whose names are mentioned therein. Publication of these confidential portions of Sheriff Laird’s deposition would further seriously impede and jeopardize the prosecution of Edgar W.

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Bluebook (online)
225 F.R.D. 186, 60 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 400, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25368, 2004 WL 2914903, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-board-of-education-wvsd-2004.