Sexually Harassed/Abused Male Students Obtain Settlement Against School

$1,900,000 — Sexually Harassed/Abused Male Students Obtain Settlement Against School —

The plaintiffs in this case were five teenage boys who were sexually molested by a volunteer school chaperon on various school related field trips and one girl who was sexually assaulted by the son of the chaperon. The Law Office of Winer, McKenna, Burritt & Tillis LLP was able to establish evidence which tended to prove that the school failed to adequately investigate the chaperon before giving him access to the students. If they had done an investigation they would have learned that the chaperon had a suspended driver’s license, had filed a recent bankruptcy and had been convicted of embezzlement. In addition, the law firm established that the school did not maintain adequate student/chaperon ratios on field trips which allowed the chaperon to have unsupervised access to the students.

The school claimed that it did not owe the same duty to investigate parent volunteer chaperones as it did to investigate paid teachers and that once school officials finally learned of the sexual molestations, the chaperon was immediately prohibited from any school activities and the students were offered counseling.

RESULT: $1,900,000 settlement in favor of Plaintiffs.