CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Federal courts have once again ruled in favor of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in a lawsuit from a former Myers Park High School student who was raped and kidnapped near the campus.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that sided with CMS, rejecting appeals from the former student, labeled as "Jane Doe" in court documents.
The sexual assault incident happened in November 2015. Doe, who was 15 at the time, said that another student, an 18-year-old male, grabbed her and took her from campus and forced her into the nearby woods, and sexually assaulted her despite her verbal protests.
Doe alleged in the lawsuit that after the assault officials did not react in a timely and appropriate manner.
The lawsuit also claims that the district allowed a hostile environment through a policy of deliberate indifference to known reports of sexual misconduct and Myers Park administration punished her as she missed classes as she dealt with the trauma of the events. Those claims were argued against by attorneys for both the CMS board and the city, who went on to say Jane Doe's parents reportedly barred her from making a statement to police and did not wish to see the school's final report about the alleged assault.
Doe filed the lawsuit in 2018 against CMS, a school resource officer, an assistant principal, and the city of Charlotte. A trial was held in January 2023, with the jury ruling that while Doe was sexually assaulted, school administrators did not act with "deliberate indifference" and no Title IX violation was made.
Doe appealed soon after, arguing that the district court erred by offering summary judgment to the officer and the principal, denying her requests to introduce certain evidence, and reducing sanctions recommended by the magistrate judge.
The appeals court heard these arguments in May. The court rejected all of these claims on Monday, siding with the lower court ruling.
In response to Monday's court decision, CMS released the following statement:
"The decision by the Court of Appeals yesterday correctly upheld the decision made by a jury in January of 2023. The jury made that decision after hearing all the evidence and reaching a conclusion that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education did not violate Title IX."