Wallence v. Treadwell

165 F.R.D. 43, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18800, 1995 WL 819144
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 18, 1995
DocketCivil Action No. 95-1452
StatusPublished

This text of 165 F.R.D. 43 (Wallence v. Treadwell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wallence v. Treadwell, 165 F.R.D. 43, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18800, 1995 WL 819144 (E.D. Pa. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

RAYMOND J. BRODERICK, District Judge.

This is a civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq. In brief, Plaintiff Traci Wallence alleges that Defendant Thomas Tread-well sexually harassed her in violation of her civil rights and that Defendant West Chester University and several University administrators (the “University Defendants”) also violated her rights by failing to properly act upon her complaints against Defendant Treadwell and by failing to establish and enforce an effective sexual harassment policy. Plaintiff has also alleged that Defendant Treadwell has committed various torts under Pennsylvania law.

Presently pending before the Court are two discovery motions. In the first motion, Defendant Treadwell has sought an investigative file created by West Chester University’s Department of Public Safety after a leaflet entitled “Reputed Sexual Harassers at W.C.U.” appeared on the West Chester campus. The leaflet included a list of individuals, including Treadwell. In the second motion, Plaintiff has sought production by West Chester University of all documents relating to complaints by University students of sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, sexual assault, stalking, retaliatory conduct or other misconduct by University personnel.

For reasons set forth in this memorandum, Defendant Treadwell’s motion will be denied and Plaintiff Wallence’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part. The Court [45]*45will also grant a brief extension of time for additional discovery in this action.

I. The Police Investigative File

It is undisputed that in April 1994 a leaflet appeared on the West Chester University Campus listing nine faculty members as “Reputed Sexual Harassers at W.C.U.” and that Defendant Treadwell’s name appeared on that list. It is also undisputed that this leaflet appeared after Plaintiff Wallence had filed a complaint with the University’s Affirmative Action office based on her allegations of sexual harassment by Defendant Treadwell. In addition, it is undisputed that the University’s Department of Public Safety subsequently began an investigation into who may have produced and posted this leaflet.

In his motion to compel production of the Public Safety investigative file, Defendant Treadwell contends that:

[I]t is reasonable to presume that whoever published this flyer has information or has heard about Treadwell from others who believe Treadwell has committed such acts. These individuals may well have spoken to Wallence regarding the subject matter of this case. Treadwell is entitled to know who these individuals are and to conduct discovery regarding what they may have seen or heard from others. Such discovery could reasonably lead to information and witnesses whose testimony is directly relevant to the very serious allegations raised against him.

In its opposition to this motion, Defendant West Chester University asserts that its investigation was inconclusive, that production of the file is unnecessary, and that Defendant Treadwell is engaging in “rank speculation.” Defendant West Chester University also asserts that it cannot turn over the file pursuant Pennsylvania’s Criminal History Record Information Act, 18 Pa.C.S. § 9101 et seq. In an effort to resolve the dispute, however, Defendant University offered to provide the entire file to the Court for in camera review and the Court ordered Defendant University to do so.

Defendant Treadwell has now filed a response to West Chester University’s opposition, asserting that he does not dispute the University’s contentions that its investigation is inconclusive, that the file does not mention Plaintiff Wallence, and that the file contains nothing about any underlying harassment incidents. Nevertheless, Defendant Treadwell asserts that he is entitled to the unredacted file, as “the scope of discovery in this matter is unquestionably much broader than a narrow inquiry into who posted the flyer. The question of who said what regarding Tread-well’s behavior is clearly discoverable, and goes well beyond the narrow question of which individual is responsible for the list.”

After a review of the investigative file, the Court finds that the file indeed shows that Defendant University’s investigation was inconclusive. On the basis of the material developed by Public Safety officers and incorporated in the investigative file, the University does not know the identity of the person or group who created and posted the leaflet or the basis for the inclusion of Defendant Treadwell on the leaflet. The file contains no reference to Plaintiff Wallence. The file also contains no reference to Defendant Treadwell, with the exception of his name in a report of the contents of the April 1994 leaflet.

In light of the Court’s in camera review of the file’s contents and the fact that the file contains no statements about Defendant Treadwell’s behavior, as well as the Court’s determination that disclosure of the contents of the file at this time may undermine the willingness of individuals to provide information in confidence to University Public Safety officers, the Court will deny Defendant Treadwell’s motion to compel production of the Public Safety investigative file.

II. Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel

In the course of discovery, Plaintiff Wallence submitted the following request for production to the University Defendants:

45. Your Files for all Complaints regarding sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, sexual assault, stalking, retaliatory [46]*46conduct, or other misconduct, or regarding an alleged failure to respond adequately to such Complaints, which were made during the Relevant Time Period by any student (undergraduate or graduate) against any professor, teacher, graduate student, teaching assistant, resident assistant, agent, or other the (sic) representative of the University, including but not limited to all documents that relate to:

a. Your hearing of the Complaint;

b. the facts underlying the Complaint;

c. the procedures You followed in processing the Complaint;

d. the explanation of rights You gave to the complaining- party or parties;

e. Your investigation of the Complaint;

f. Your response to acts of retaliation against the complainant;

g. Your Communications with the complainant, the accused or any other student, faculty, or staff of the University, including the accused, his union representative or attorney, regarding the Complaint;

h. Your final resolution of the Complaint, and any action taken or punishment imposed as a result of such resolution.

Plaintiff also states that this request includes any complaints asserted against and by several specified individuals, but that her request is not limited to only those complaints. Although Plaintiff did not provide the Court with definitions of terms used in her request, University Defendants included a copy of Plaintiffs full request for production in their response to Plaintiffs motion to compel.

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Related

Sex
20 U.S.C. § 1681

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 F.R.D. 43, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18800, 1995 WL 819144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wallence-v-treadwell-paed-1995.