Marlborough School Student Can Sue Teacher Who Impregnated Her, Judge Rules

LOS ANGELES, CA A judge ruled today that a woman can move forward with her lawsuit against a Hancock Park all-girls school and a teacher she alleges initiated a year-long sexual relationship with her when she was 16 and got her pregnant.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Rico denied a motion by attorneys for Marlborough School to dismiss the case. They argued the woman, who is now in her early 30s, waited too long to file the case. She alleges she was abused by teacher Joseph Koetters from 2000-02.

The woman’s attorneys state in their court papers that she did not realize the psychological harm Koetters caused her until 2014 when she read an online essay written by another female who claimed she also was sexually harassed by Koetters.

The lawsuit, filed last April 8, alleges school officials knew of past allegations of sexual misconduct by Koetters at Polytechnic School in Pasadena and, but failed to investigate them.

Koetters was arrested in February 2015. The 48-year-old Santa Monica resident was sentenced to a year in county jail in October on charges that he engaged in sex acts with two 16-year-old girls more than a decade ago, including the plaintiff.

The plaintiff says Koetters impregnated her in 2002.

“Her teacher reacted coldly when she informed him of the pregnancy and he matter-of-factly assumed that she would have an abortion and told her that he would make the arrangements,” the plaintiff’s attorneys stated in their court papers.

The woman later had a miscarriage.

City News Service