Judge Bars Teacher From Seeking Punitive Damage Against Catholic Archdiocese in Discrimination Suit

A judge ruled Friday that a teacher who alleges she was fired from a Leimert Park Catholic school because she was pregnant and unmarried cannot seek punitive damages against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marc Marmaro found that Transfiguration School principal Evelyn Rickenbacker was not a “managing agent” because although she exercised control over policy at her campus, her authority did not extend to the Archdiocese itself.

Attorneys for the plaintiff, Kourtney Liggins, maintained that Rickenbacker had the power to give teachers evaluations and also fire them according to policy set by the school and the Archdiocese.

The judge noted that Rickenbacker explained her authority during a deposition.

“She testified that as far as she knew, she could not even suggest changes to the policies or procedures of the Archdiocese pertaining to the Catholic schools,” Marmaro wrote in an eight-page opinion. “She lacked discretionary authority over any of the other schools within the Archdiocese or the ability to suggest changes to the policies and procedures governing the broader network of schools.”

Rickenbacker’s contact with the Archdiocese was “limited to the training she received for her position and her occasional meetings with a superior who was in charge of at least eight to 10 schools,” Marmaro wrote.

Last July, Marmaro ruled that Liggins could take her case to trial on allegations of wrongful termination, intentional infliction of emotional distress and two causes of action for defamation.

He also found that she can seek punitive damages against Rickenbacker, the school and the Rev. Michael Tang, but threw out her other causes of action alleging retaliation, harassment and discrimination.

Liggins sued the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Transfiguration School, Tang and Rickenbacker in September 2013. She was seven months pregnant in the summer of 2012 when Tang allegedly told her that her pregnancy would “morally corrupt” impressionable teens at the school.

Tang also referred to Liggins’ unborn child as “it,” according to the lawsuit. When Liggins complained to school officials, they told her to “pray on it,” the suit alleges.

In May 2013, Tang unexpectedly produced complaints about Liggins’ pregnancy and performance, but the comments had no dates or names on them, the suit states.

The father of one of Liggins’ students later told her that Tang told him he would not have to pay the money he owed the school if he would complain about Liggins in writing, according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the child of a parent who complained that Liggins used her cell phone in class was awarded a grant from the school, the suit alleges.

Liggins alleges the school barred her boyfriend, the father of her daughter, from the school grounds and fired her in June 2013.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock