NJ Child Sex Abuse Victims Can Sue Their Schools, Supreme Court Says

Four cases of alleged sex abuse involving former teachers in Essex and Monmouth counties recently made their way to the highest court in New Jersey.

Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that public school districts in the state can be sued for sexual abuse committed by staff members – even if it didn’t take place on school grounds.

The court ruling stemmed from four separate cases involving alleged sex abuse, which took place before New Jersey passed the Child Victims Act in 2019. The landmark legislation opened the doors for more victims to file lawsuits, including against public entities and nonprofits, which were previously immune to claims.

One case involved a man who sued the Upper Freehold Regional Board of Education, alleging that a science teacher – who was also an advisor and team coach for Allentown High School’s Future Farmers of America chapter – sexually abused him at his apartment in 1979 after a landscaping contest at Rutgers University. He was 15-years-old at the time.

Three other cases involved former students of Nicole Dufault, a former teacher at Columbia High School in the South Orange-Maplewood Public School District.

Dufault was accused of engaging in sexual activity with six boys on multiple occasions between 2013 and 2014. Some of the abuse allegedly occurred on school property and in her car. All of the boys were between 14 and 15-years-old at the time of the incidents, prosecutors said.

In 2015, Dufault – a Bloomfield native who lived in Caldwell at the time of the allegations – claimed that a brain condition affected her judgment. Read More: NJ Teacher Blames Brain Condition For Alleged Sex Crimes

Dufault pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact in 2020. As part of the plea agreement, Dufault forfeited her government employment, gave up her teaching licenses, registered as a sex offender pursuant to Megan’s Law and will be subject to parole supervision for life, prosecutors said. Read More: Former Essex County Teacher Pleads Guilty, Had Sex With Students

Since then, the South Orange-Maplewood school district has faced a series of lawsuits related to the abuse. Two lawsuits – which have since been settled – have claimed that school officials were informed of these improper activities, but failed to take meaningful action. Both cases also alleged racial discrimination, asserting that the teacher specifically targeted Black male students with disabilities.

• Related: NJ School District Faces Slew Of Teacher Sex Abuse Lawsuits

SUPREME COURT: HERE’S THE 3-POINT TEST

The Supreme Court released its ruling on March 11. View the written opinion here.

To be found “vicariously liable,” a district must have done three things, the court decided:

• “The school gave the employee who allegedly committed sexual abuse or other sexual misconduct described in N.J.S.A. 59:2-1.3(a)(1) the authority to control the student’s educational environment”
• “The school employee’s exercise of that authority resulted in the sexual abuse or sexual misconduct”
• “It reasonably appeared that the school employee’s sexual abuse of or sexual misconduct against the student was tacitly approved by the school”

Meanwhile, the court laid out several factors that should be considered for each lawsuit. They included:

• Did the school have any policies, training or other procedures to prevent the sexual abuse of students?
• Were those policies enforced by the school?
• Was the abuse reported to school officials – and what was their response, if so?

Here is the court summary of the case:

“N.J.S.A. 59:2-1.3(a)(1) does not categorically bar the imposition of vicarious liability on a public entity for acts of sexual abuse outside the scope of a teacher’s employment, and plaintiffs’ vicarious liability claims should not have been dismissed at the pleading stage. The Court adopts a standard for the determination of vicarious liability claims asserted against public schools pursuant to the statute. As to the second issue, a public school does not bear a fiduciary duty to a student.”

All four cases cited in the court’s opinion have been remanded back to the trial courts.

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