In 2016, Jane Doe, a 14-year-old girl who had recently immigrated to the United States from Honduras, began attending Mercy High School as a freshman. Mercy High School is an all-girls private Catholic college preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 2015, Mercy High School hired Ernest Jackson as an Assistant Indoor Track Coach. Jackson was a childhood friend of the Athletic Director’s younger brother. Mercy High School has adopted the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Statement of Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth (Archdiocese’s Policy). Under the Archdiocese’s Policy, before employing Jackson, Mercy High School was required to have Jackson submit to a criminal record check coupled with Criminal Justice Identification Services (CJIS) fingerprinting and provide three reference checks. Both the Archdiocese’s Policy and Maryland law prohibit schools from hiring employees who have been convicted of certain crimes. At the time Mercy High School hired him, Jackson had a lengthy criminal record including several DUIs, a domestic violence protective order, and among other convictions, First Degree Assault, which would have disqualified him from employment with Mercy High School. Despite this record, Mercy High School hired Jackson solely on the Athletic Director’s recommendation.
Shortly after Jane Doe began school, she tried out for the indoor track team – a team that Jackson coached. Over the next three years, Jackson subjected Doe to multiple forms and instances of sexual abuse, ranging from flirtation to physical sexual assault. Jackson’s repeated and on-going sexual abuse and molestation of Jane Doe resulted in physical and emotional harm to her. Furthermore, several Mercy High School students and staff were aware of Jackson’s inappropriate attention and contact with Doe but failed to report the abuse.
Similar allegations about Jackson were also raised by another student, but the School was quick to dismiss the claim as not sexual in nature, and no further action was taken. Mercy High School’s handling of the complaint allegedly violated the Archdiocese’s Policy, as the School was required to investigate the claims, create a written report, and notify the authorities, if necessary, which the School failed to do.
In November of 2018, a group of students reported Jackson’s sexual abuse of Doe to the other track team coach, who notified the principal, who then reported the abuse to Child Protective Services. Jane Doe originally denied the allegations out of fear, but later admitted to the abuse she had suffered. Child Protective Services contacted the Baltimore Police Department who launched a criminal investigation into the matter. The Baltimore Police Department’s interviews with Mercy High School staff revealed that the faculty and staff were untrained in preventing, recognizing, and reporting child sexual abuse, which is a mandatory requirement under the Archdiocese’s Policy.
Jane Doe filed suit against Mercy High School, among other defendants. Jane Doe’s complaint alleged among other claims: (1) Negligent Hiring; (2) Negligent Supervision, Retention, and Training; (3) Negligence; (4) Gross Negligence; and (5) Breach of a Fiduciary Duty. The School moved to dismiss the complaint.
To state a claim for negligent hiring, training, or supervision, a plaintiff must show: the existence of an employment relationship, the employee’s incompetence, the employer’s actual or constructive knowledge of such incompetence, the employee’s act or omission causing the plaintiff’s injuries, and the employer’s negligence in hiring was the approximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. The Court found that Jane Doe plead sufficient facts to establish that the School negligently hired and supervised Jackson when it failed to look into Jackson’s background and failed to take action after complaints were brought against Jackson. The Court allowed these claims against Mercy High School Defendants to proceed.
For a general negligence claim, a plaintiff must establish four elements: a duty owed to him, a breach of that duty, a causal relationship between the breach of duty and the harm suffered, and damages. Here, the Court recognized that a school had a clear duty to exercise reasonable care to protect a pupil from harm. In response, the School argued that the claim was duplicative of Jane Doe’s negligent hiring, training, and supervision claims. However, whether to dismiss on grounds of duplication is discretionary and the Court concluded that while the claims were similar, they were not true mirror images and that Doe had pled sufficient facts to show that the School was potentially negligent. The Court allowed the claim to proceed.
Gross negligence is a heightened form of negligence and requires a showing that there was an intentional failure to perform a manifest duty in reckless disregard of the consequences and implies a thoughtless disregard of the consequences without the exertion of any effort to avoid them. The Court determined that Jane Doe properly stated a claim for gross negligence on the basis that Mercy High School Defendants acted with reckless and/or thoughtless disregard of the consequences when they failed to complete a background check before hiring a new employee. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the School acted in a manner utterly indifferent to the rights of its minor students when the School expounded no effort in performing a criminal record check of a readily discoverable sex offender before allowing Jackson to work with children.
A fiduciary duty is, in general, a duty to act for the benefit of another on matters within the scope of the parties’ relationship. Here, the Court was persuaded that a fiduciary duty existed between the School and its student, given the School’s special duty to protect a student from harm. Additionally, the court emphasized there was a great deal of trust and confidence that a student must place in her school by the nature of the relationship. The Court concluded that Jane Doe’s claim for a breach of fiduciary duty against Mercy High School may proceed.
Note: The California Education Code requires private schools to obtain a criminal background check of all employees that will have contact with minors and forbids schools from hiring individuals with certain criminal records. This case is still in the preliminary stages, and the liability to the School for hiring this employee and failing to investigate these claims in accordance with its policies may be significant.
Doe v. Mercy High Sch., Inc. (D.Md. June 24, 2024) 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110364.