J.B. v. Lawson State Community College

29 So. 3d 164, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 158, 2009 WL 1819331
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 26, 2009
Docket1080316
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 29 So. 3d 164 (J.B. v. Lawson State Community College) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J.B. v. Lawson State Community College, 29 So. 3d 164, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 158, 2009 WL 1819331 (Ala. 2009).

Opinion

WOODALL, Justice.

In the late night hours of March 5 or the early morning hours of March 6, 2004, 19-year-old J.B.,1 a member of the Lawson State Community College (“Lawson State”) women’s basketball team, was raped in a motel room by one of her basketball coaches, Boris A. McCord, a long-time acquaintance, after an away game. She brought this action (1) against Lawson State, pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, § 909, as amended, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1681-1688; and (2) against McCord’s alleged supervisors, namely, Dr. Perry Ward, Eleanor Pitts, and Aubrey Wiley, the president, the athletic director, and the head women’s basketball coach, respectively, of Lawson State (hereinafter referred to collectively [167]*167as “the supervisors”), pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The trial court entered a summary judgment for Lawson State and the supervisors, and J.B. appeals. We affirm.

I. Legal Framework

“Title IX provides in pertinent part: ‘No person ... shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.’ ” Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. Sch. Dist., 524 U.S. 274, 280, 118 S.Ct. 1989, 141 L.Ed.2d 277 (1998) (quoting 20 U.S.C. § 1681(a)). It affords a private right of action for “damages in cases involving a teacher’s sexual harassment of a student,” 524 U.S. at 281, 118 S.Ct. 1989, but only where “an official of the school ... who at a minimum has authority to institute corrective measures on the [school’s] behalf has actual notice of, and is deliberately indifferent to, the teacher’s misconduct.” 524 U.S. at 277, 118 S.Ct. 1989 (emphasis added).

Similarly, supervisory liability under § 1983 turns on whether, “ ‘in light of the information [the supervisor's] possessed, the teacher who engaged in sexual abuse showed a strong likelihood that he would attempt to sexually abuse other students, such that the failure to take adequate precautions amounted to deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of the students.’ ” Ex parte Madison County Bd. of Educ., 1 So.3d 980, 992 (Ala.2008) (quoting Doe ex rel. Doe v. City of Roseville, 296 F.3d 431, 439 (6th Cir.2002)). Thus, an issue dispositive of either claim is whether the actions or inaction of the supervisors or Lawson State of which J.B. complains as the basis of her claims amounted to deliberate indifference to the danger posed to her by McCord.

II. Facttial Baclcgnmnd

The fact pattern out of which this case arises involves such details regarding McCord’s background as were known by the supervisors, as well as by J.B. herself. According to Pitts, Pitts was head women’s basketball coach at Lawson State in 2002. Her duties included recruiting prospective student athletes for the basketball team, as well as overseeing the scheduling and administration of all practices and games and supervising assistant coaches and voluntary assistants.

During the 2002-2003 basketball season, McCord assisted Pitts “on a voluntary, part-time basis” with, among other things, the “administration of practices.” Pitts had known McCord and one or more of his family members for several years and had heard from them that McCord had, at sometime predating his employment history, “been in jail related to the death of a child.” Her understanding was that he had taken “ ‘the fall’ for a companion.”2 She never discussed the matter with McCord.

During the 2002-2003 basketball season, Pitts learned — according to her affidavit and deposition testimony — that McCord had allegedly touched S.P., a female student on the basketball team, “in a manner that made her feel uncomfortable during the middle of a practice drill.” More specifically, Pitts stated that, on the day of the alleged incident, S.P. approached Pitts and personally informed her of the matter as Pitts was coming out of her office. Pitts stated that she “immediately” questioned McCord, who said that the touch was only “incidental as part of the practice drill.” Pitts said that she questioned “the other [168]*168players” and “strongly warned [McCord] that such conduct was not acceptable and [would] not be tolerated.” Subsequently, according to Pitts, she informed S.P. of the actions she had taken and S.P. indicated that she “was satisfied with that.” Neither S.P. nor any of her teammates have any recollection of this incident or of Pitts’s alleged follow-up, which will hereinafter be referred to as “the 2002 incident.”

In 2003, McCord was offered and accepted employment by Lawson State as assistant women’s basketball coach. In so doing, he replaced Aubrey Wiley, who, in turn, replaced Pitts as head women’s basketball coach, when Pitts moved into the position of chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education; Pitts later became athletic director.

In early 2004, during the 2003-200⅛ basketball season, McCord allegedly touched S.P. on the backside before a basketball game as she was standing on a weight scale. S.P. testified by deposition that she confronted McCord and asked him if the touch was intentional, and he admitted that it was. She was angry and immediately expressed her anger to a number of her teammates. However, according to the testimony of S.P. and her teammates, neither she nor they reported the incident to any official for Lawson State. The alleged touching on this occasion will be referred to hereinafter as “the 2003 incident.”

Meanwhile, in the fall of 2003, J.B., a graduate of Woodlawn High School (“Woodlawn”), accepted a basketball scholarship to attend Lawson State. The scholarship offer was McCord’s idea; McCord had been J.B.’s basketball coach at Wood-lawn for three years before her high-school graduation. While she was in high school, J.B. and her team had played a number of away games, chauffeured by McCord, that required overnight stays. Also, J.B. traveled — “a lot” — with McCord and other members of his family to watch McCord’s daughter play basketball for Alabama A & M University.

Throughout the 2003-2004 basketball season at Lawson State, McCord regularly chauffeured J.B. to and from classes, sometimes accompanied bjr his fiancée. J.B. also spent time with McCord at his home, visiting with his fiancée and her daughter. Pitts and Wiley were aware of these activities. Pitts and Wiley both felt some concern regarding the amount of time J.B. and McCord were spending together, and they questioned the nature of the relationship. Wiley discussed the matter with Pitts, who exjoressed the view that J.B. was “grown” and that Pitts and Wiley could not control events that happened off campus. Wiley also discussed the relationship with J.B. and McCord, both of whom denied that the relationship was a sexual one.

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Bluebook (online)
29 So. 3d 164, 2009 Ala. LEXIS 158, 2009 WL 1819331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jb-v-lawson-state-community-college-ala-2009.