Bruneau v. South Kortright Central Sch. Dist.

163 F.3d 749 (2d Cir. 1998) ; Clearinghouse Number: 52256

Description

Title IX Precludes Student from Maintaining Section 1983 Claim Against School for Peer Sexual Harassment

Abstract

The Second Circuit held that Title IX precluded plaintiff student from maintaining a Section 1983 claim in her suit alleging peer sexual harassment in school. Plaintiff, a sixth-grade student, was the victim of continuous verbal and physical sexual assault by her male classmates from the start of the school year until her withdrawal six months later. She claimed that this harassment created an intimidating, abusive, and hostile environment that interfered with her education and depressed her. Plaintiff claimed that defendant school district’s failure to remedy this hostile environment violated her rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, and 42 U.S.C.§ 1983. Finding that Congress intended to preclude a Section 1983 claim for Title IX violations, the district court dismissed plaintiff’s Section 1983 claim. The jury returned a verdict in defendant’s favor. Plaintiff appealed. That a Section 1983 claim could be stated against individual officials for failure to prevent peer sexual harassment among students was not, the court of appeals held, clearly established law in 1993. The court held that defendant school officials were entitled to dismissal based on the defense of qualified immunity. The court also held that Title IX had so comprehensive an enforcement scheme as to foreclose the use of Section 1983 to implement its provisions. The court rejected plaintiff’s argument that, even if Title IX were sufficiently comprehensive to preclude her Section 1983 claim for violations of that statute, Title IX did not bar her Section 1983 claim for violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court held that, although plaintiff had a constitutional right to an educational environment free of sexual harassment, Title IX provided the exclusive remedial avenue.

Additional Information

Docket Date
1970-01-01 06:00:00+00:00

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