Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

The California Supreme Court has upheld a ruling by a lower court that gave students the right to sue school districts when they have suffered sexual harassment or sexual abuse by employees.

Our Orange County sexual harassment lawyers are pleased that the courts sided with students, which will help hold districts accountable when children are targeted by predatory employees.

School districts have a responsibility to keep students safe from sexual harassment in Orange County and throughout the state. Sexual harassment law, as defined in California Penal Code 1604.11, specifically deals with workplace harassment. The law essentially says that employers can be held liable for sexual harassment between employees if the employer knew or should have known about it, but did nothing to intervene.

Of course, schools are workplaces, so teacher-to-teacher or administrator-to-teacher harassment would certainly fall under the law's purview. Students, however, should be afforded even greater protections because often, the abuser is coming from a unique position of power.

In this case, C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District, the minor child sued the school district for damages following alleged sexual harassment and abuse from a school guidance counselor.

According to the suit, the victim, identified only as C.A., said that he was sexually harassed and abused by the head female guidance counselor when he was 14 and 15 years-old from January 2007 to about September 2007. The guidance counselor, under the premise of helping the student, began driving him home. Eventually, this led to her touching and hugging him, and eventually advanced into more egregious violations, including masturbation, oral sex and intercourse.

The plaintiff in the case alleged that the district either knew or should have known what was going on. If it did not, it was due to a lack of supervision and failure to have in place sexual harassment and abuse guidelines to protect students.

The school argued it wasn't responsible because the acts in question occurred off school grounds.

The court, however laid out that school administrators have a responsibility to take what would be considered reasonable measures to protect students from abuse and harassment from "foreseeable sources," which include counselors or teachers that they know or have reason to think might be perpetuating such abuse.

An attorney for the district says the ruling is going to expose districts to lawsuits that can be filed regardless of whether such allegations are true. He argued that the ruling is likely to interfere with the state's ability to educate students.

Our Orange County sexual harassment attorneys would point out: How can a student focus on any form of quality education if he or she is being harassed or abused?