You are here: / / A TEACHER’S ALLEGED STATEMENT TO THE PLAINTIFF THAT HE WAS AWARE...
, , , ,

A TEACHER’S ALLEGED STATEMENT TO THE PLAINTIFF THAT HE WAS AWARE OF THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF THE PLAINTIFF BY ANOTHER TEACHER OCCURRING REPEATEDLY AT SCHOOL WAS DEEMED AN ADMISSION ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT RAISING A QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER THE SEXUAL ABUSE WAS FORESEEABLE BY THE SCHOOL DISTRICT (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, over a concurrence disagreeing with the majority ruling that a teacher’s alleged statement was admissible against the school district as an admission, affirmed the denial of the school district’s motion for summary judgment in this Child Victims Act negligent supervision case. Plaintiff, who was a student in the late 60’s, alleged repeated abuse by a teacher in a back room at the school. Another teacher was alleged to have overheard the abuse and allegedly threatened plaintiff with revealing it in an attempt to sexually abuse plaintiff himself. That statement was deemed an admission which raised a question of fact whether the abuse was foreseeable by the school district:

… [P]laintiff testified that the orchestra teacher offered her a ride home from a bus stop after an evening event at the school. Instead of taking her home, however, the orchestra teacher took her to a park where, according to plaintiff, he told her “that he knew what was going on because he could hear through the walls from the orchestra room into that back room [where Fleming’s office was located] and that [plaintiff] didn’t want it to get out — [plaintiff] wouldn’t want it to come out, so [she] should be nice to him.” When plaintiff responded that she did not know what the orchestra teacher was talking about, he attempted to kiss her. * * *

The court determined that the entirety of the statement attributed to the orchestra teacher was admissible as a vicarious party admission of defendant under CPLR 4549 and therefore properly considered when evaluating defendant’s motion for summary judgment, because the orchestra teacher was employed by defendant and “[r]ecognizing and responding to the abuse of students while on school grounds certainly falls within the scope of the duties of a teacher employed by [defendant].” * * *

We conclude that it is within the scope of a teacher’s employment relationship to identify and assist a student who they believe is being sexually abused, and that the orchestra teacher’s statement indicating awareness of the abuse of plaintiff was therefore “on a matter within the scope of [the employment] relationship” … . We further conclude that the orchestra teacher’s statement professing knowledge of the abuse occurred “during the existence of” the employment relationship, within the meaning of CPLR 4549, inasmuch as it is undisputed that he was employed by defendant at the time the statement was made. Therefore, we agree with the court that the statement is admissible pursuant to CPLR 4549. Bl Doe 5, 2024 NY Slip Op 03608, Fourth Dept 7-3-24

Practice Point: In a negligent supervision action against a school district, is a statement allegedly made by a teacher to a student indicating the teacher’s awareness of repeated sexual abuse of the student by another teacher, taking place at school, admissible against the school district as an admission of its awareness of the abuse? Here the court answered “yes” over a concurrence which disagreed.

 

You might also like
ALTHOUGH THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN PLAINTIFF COUNTRY CLUB AND DEFENDANT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION, MAINTENANCE AND USE OF A BOAT SLIP WAS A LICENSE, NOT A LEASE, THE LICENSE, BY THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT, WAS NOT TERMINABLE AT WILL BY THE COUNTRY CLUB; TWO-JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT WHO ALLOWED 16-YEAR-OLD NEIGHBOR TO WATCH PLAINTIFF’S FIVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WAS NOT LIABLE FOR THE MURDER OF PLAINTIFF’S DAUGHTER BY THE NEIGHBOR, THE CRIMINAL ACT SEVERED THE LIABILITY OF THE DEFENDANT, NEIGHBOR HAD WATCHED THE CHILD BEFORE WITHOUT INCIDENT, NO RED FLAGS (FOURTH DEPT).
MULTIPLICITOUS COUNTS OF SEX OFFENSE INDICTMENT DISMISSED IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE, THE COUNTS CHARGED SINGLE UNINTERRUPTED OFFENSES WHICH SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SPLIT INTO TWO COUNTS EACH.
Failure of Sentencing Court to Inform Defendant of Period of Post-Release Supervision Required Release after Sentence Served
DIRECT APPEAL, AS OPPOSED TO AN ARTICLE 78, WAS APPROPRIATE IN THIS CONTEMPT PROCEEDING; MOTHER SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO ARGUE AGAINST THE CONTEMPT ADJUDICATIONS (FOURTH DEPT). ​
PLAINTIFF’S CHILD ALLEGEDLY WAS INJURED DURING SCHOOL RECESS; PLAINTIFF’S FAILURE TO PRODUCE THE CHILD FOR THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL LAW 50-H HEARING REQUIRED DISMISSAL OF THE COMPLAINT (FOURTH DEPT).
CHILD SUPPORT STANDARDS ACT (CSSA) WAS INCORRECTLY APPLIED TO INCOME ABOVE THE STATUTORY CAP (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT’S STATEMENT DURING THE PLEA ALLOCUTION RAISED A VIABLE AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE WHICH REQUIRED FURTHER INQUIRY BY THE JUDGE, ERROR IS A RARE EXCEPTION TO THE PRESERVATION REQUIREMENT (FOURTH DEPT).

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2025 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

​ THE DOCTRINE OF MERGER REQUIRED REVERSAL OF THE KIDNAPPING CONVICTION AND... HERE THE PLEA ALLOCUTION DID NOT INDICATE TWO SEPARATE AND DISTINCT ACTS WERE...