Doe v. Madison

Citations

• 340 Conn. 1

Syllabus

The plaintiffs, X, Y and Z, three former high school students, sought to recover damages from the defendant town, its board of education, and the town high school principal, S, for injuries the plaintiffs allegedly sustained as a result of sexual abuse by A, a teacher at the high school. A was acquainted with the plaintiffs through her roles as an English teacher, faculty yearbook advisor, and conditioning coach for the high school football team, of which the plaintiffs were members. At various points, A started exchanging messages with each of the plaintiffs on a social networking platform. A's messages initially concerned school, athletics, and the yearbook, but the messages progressed to include personal topics, such as A's marital problems with her husband, R, who also was employed as a teacher at the high school, and sexually suggestive photographs and banter containing sexual overtones. A had summoned X to her classroom more than twenty times, and she had called Y and Z to her classroom approximately five times each. To avoid detection, A varied the days and times at which she summoned the plaintiffs and often used an issue related to the yearbook as a pretext for the meetings. On one of those occasions, A performed fellatio on Y. She also touched Z in an inappropriate manner several times. Although A had a good reputation and strong performance evaluations, her attire at summer football practices, specifically, tight fitting shorts and only 1 a sports bra for a top, attracted the coaches' attention. Additionally, R took issue with A's attire and what he believed to be her flirtatious, attention seeking behavior. R was concerned that a rumor had spread among the teachers that A had been flirting with X, and he confronted A about her social media contact and one-on-one meetings with X, as well as certain flirtatious behavior he witnessed A displaying toward players at a Friday night football game. The plaintiffs alleged, inter alia, that the defendants were neg