M.P.T.C. ex rel. C.C. v. Nelson County School District

192 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76904
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJune 14, 2016
DocketCIVIL ACTION NO. 3:14CV-00041-JHM
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 192 F. Supp. 3d 798 (M.P.T.C. ex rel. C.C. v. Nelson County School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M.P.T.C. ex rel. C.C. v. Nelson County School District, 192 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76904 (W.D. Ky. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Joseph H. McKinley, Jr., Chief Judge, United States District Court

This matter is before the Court on a motion by Defendants, Nelson County [802]*802School District, Board of Education of Nelson County, Anthony Orr, Shelly Hendricks, Jennifer Miller, and Tessa Jaggers, for summary judgment [DN 32] and a motion by Plaintiff, M.P.T.C,, for leave.to file Plaintiffs second amended complaint [DN 37]. Fully briefed, these matters are ripe for decision.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Before the Court may grant a motion for summary judgment, it must find that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party bears the initial burden of specifying the basis for its motion and identifying that portion of the record that demonstrates the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Once the moving party satisfies this burden, the non-moving party thereafter must produce specific facts demonstrating a genuine issue of fact for trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

Although the Court must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, the non-moving party must do more than merely show that there is some “metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). Instead, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require the non-moving party to present specific facts showing that a genuine factual issue exists by “citing to particular parts of materials in the record” or by “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence ... of a genuine dispute^]” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). “The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence in support of the [non-moving party’s] position will be insufficient; there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the [non-moving party].” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505. It is against this standard the Court reviews the following facts.

II. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is currently a senior at Nelson County High School. Plaintiff has attended schools within the Nelson County School District from age five to the present. In 2007, Plaintiff was identified as a child with a disability eligible to receive special educational services. Plaintiff continues to be identified as an individual with a qualifying disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, including a mild mental disability which manifests in some learning issues and social adaptive issues. (T.C. Dep. at 12.)

In August of 2008, Plaintiffs parents filed a “due process request” on behalf of their son. (T.C. Dep. at 9-11.) Issues concerning Plaintiffs elementary school educational experience, including allegations of bullying by peers, were raised through an administrative hearing request under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et. seq. These issues were resolved by a settlement agreement executed on June 16, 2009. Based on further “harassment, bullying, teasing, and hazing” that occurred after the settlement agreement, Plaintiff filed this action in the Nelson Circuit Court on December 23, 2013, asserting claims against Defendants for deprivation of Plaintiffs constitutional rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, violation of KRS § 344 et. seq., and negligence. (Amended Complaint at ¶ 15.) Defendants removed this action to this Court on January 17, 20Í4. The Court granted Defendants’ motion for a more definite statement. In response, Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on July 8,2014.

[803]*803In his amended complaint, Plaintiff alleges that from August of 2009 to June of 2014 he “has been continually, systematically and intentionally assaulted, abused, harassed, menaced, taunted, threatened, teased and bullied.” (Amended Complaint ¶ 14.) Plaintiff alleges that he sustained verbal and physical abuse by other students. Plaintiff maintains that throughout this time period, he and his family repeatedly complained to school officials that other students were bullying him. Specifically, Plaintiff .alleges that he was bullied during both the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 school year at Nelson County High School (“NCHS”). (Id. at ¶¶ 17-23.) Additionally, Plaintiff asserts that he was subjected .to harassment on the bus, stabbed in the knee with a pencil, beaten up in the bathroom, and had a basketball thrown at his face “while [he] was enrolled at Old Kentucky Home Middle School” during the academic years of 2009-2012. (Id. at.THI 24-25).

The Nelson County School System is operated by the Nelson County Board of Education (“Board of Education”). Defendant Anthony Orr (“Orr”) has been the Superintendent of the Nelson County Public Schools since August of 2010. Defendant Jennifer Miller (“Miller”) was the principal of Old Kentucky Home Middle School (OKHMS) during the 2011-2012 school year which was the Plaintiffs eighth grade year. Defendant Shelly Hendricks (“Hendricks”) has been the principal of NCHS from August 2013 to the present. Defendant Tessa' Jaggers (“Jaggers”) became assistant principal at NCHS at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year. (Anthony Orr Aff, at ¶¶3-6.) Plaintiffs case revolves around these school officials’ alleged failure to recognize and reasonably respond to a pattern of bullying incidents he suffered while attending OKHMS and NCHS.

Neither Plaintiffs amended complaint nor his response to Defendants’ motion for summary judgment sets forth a clear recitation of the bullying incidents, which school official or administrator the Plaintiff or his parents informed, or the response by the administrative official. In his response, Plaintiff identifies the following instances-of verbal and physical abuse and bullying:

• In elementary school, students placed gum in the hood of his jacket, resulting in gum stuck in his hair. To remove the gum, someone at the school used a cleaning compound resulting in third degree burns to the Plaintiff s head.
• In elementary school, Plaintiff was ■ stabbed with a pencil.-
• In elementary school, physical assáults and verbal harassment continued at school and on the bus.
• After the “due process request” that resulted in a settlement agreement, physical assault and verbal harassment occurred on the bus.

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Bluebook (online)
192 F. Supp. 3d 798, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76904, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mptc-ex-rel-cc-v-nelson-county-school-district-kywd-2016.