The El Segundo Unified School District's cross-complaint against a teacher who allegedly sexually abused a man while he was a student in her social studies class in middle school has been met with her new court papers denying the district's claims as well as demands that the ESUSD pay her attorneys' fees to defend herself in both cases.
The plaintiff in the underlying Torrance Superior Court lawsuit is identified only as John Doe 7091. He alleges sexual battery and harassment, negligence and negligent supervision and retention.
On March 28, the ESUSD filed a cross-complaint against the teacher and Worldstrides, the organization that the district alleges organized the trip to the East Coast. The district is asking a judge to determine the rights and obligations of the parties and to order compensation from the teacher and Worldstrides for any money the district may be ordered to pay to the plaintiff.
In separate court papers brought the same day, ESUSD attorneys deny any liability on the part of the district in Doe's case and cite multiple defenses, including a violation of the statute of limitations in bringing the case.
But in her court papers filed Friday, the teacher denies the district's allegations, maintains that they also were brought too late and that she is immune from liability.
The teacher has "engaged attorneys to represent her in defense of (Doe's) and (the district's) frivolous, unfounded and unreasonable complaint and therefore is entitled to recover from (the ESUSD) her attorneys' fees incurred in defending this matter and upon judgment ... in her favor," the educator's court papers contend.
In his suit filed last July 13 Doe contends the ESUSD was responsible for the supervision of its employees, including the teacher, and assumed responsibility for the well-being of Doe and other minors in its care. Doe started eighth grade at El Segundo Middle School in 2000-2001 and in the spring of 2001, he met one of two school social studies teachers while the plaintiff was attending school meetings in preparation for a school-sponsored trip to Washington, D.C., the suit states.
Although Doe was not assigned to the female teacher's class, she "took an immediate interest in plaintiff during these meetings" and later began often corresponding with him through emails, the suit alleges.
The teacher "gained the trust and confidence of plaintiff by befriending him and making him feel special" and as her influence on Doe grew, she "began increasing her flirtatious conversations with plaintiff," the suit alleges.
"She would frequently tell him that he was the most mature of all the students at El Segundo Middle School and frequently complimented his intelligence," the suit states. "She also began encouraging him to engage in more explicit sexual conversations."
The teacher also "consistently told plaintiff that it was important he never discuss the grooming or sexual assaults," the suit states.
The teacher also sexually abused Doe in her classroom, in her car and in her Hermosa Beach apartment, and she wrote a love message in the plaintiff's yearbook at the end of the school year, according to the suit, which further states that Doe eventually transferred to another school district because of the rumors surrounding him and the teacher, but she continued to sexually abuse him through the spring/summer of 2003.
Judge Gary Y. Tanaka has scheduled a status conference for Aug. 21.
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