Managing Attorney Jonathan Vogel spoke with local news reporter to discuss the verdict and its impact 

February 1, 2023

Categories: K-12

On January 20, 2023, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina found that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) had not acted with “deliberate indifference” and, therefore, had not violated Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex for recipients of federal funds with education programs. 

At issue in the case was whether administrators at Myers Park High School responded appropriately in November 2015 to a report of sexual assault that allegedly occurred in the woods adjacent to the school. Managing Attorney Jonathan Vogel was interviewed by WCNC Charlotte about the verdict.

The plaintiff, who went by the pseudonym “Jane Doe” during the case, was a student who alleged that she was physically coerced by another student to enter the woods during the school day where she was sexually assaulted by him. In response to Jane Doe’s text messages from the woods that she needed help, her parents contacted the school to report the matter. Jane Doe alleged that the school administrators’ response to that report was inadequate. 

However, CMS attorney Terry Wallace successfully focused his trial strategy on the quick and reasonable actions taken by school administrators in the wake of receiving the report. He also kept the jury’s focus on Jane Doe’s parents’ decision to not cooperate with school administrators’ attempts to obtain Jane Doe’s side of the story and to provide her supportive measures.

For school districts, the lesson from the jury’s verdict is that, despite persuasive evidence that a sexual assault has occurred and that it was reported to the school’s administrators, a jury will properly return a verdict for the school district if the school district can prove that, in response to receiving the report, it followed federal regulations, school board policies, and otherwise did not act with “deliberate indifference” – that is, a conscious choice to disregard the report – in responding to the report. 

School districts should ensure that administrators are well trained to properly and thoroughly implement Title IX regulations and policies when a report of sexual assault or sexual harassment is received.

About Vogel Law Firm:

Vogel Law Firm is an education law firm focused solely on legal issues that arise in K-12, higher education, and student loans. The firm provides a wide range of education law services to families, students, and borrowers, as well as to school boards, charter schools, colleges, universities, and higher education finance and technology organizations.

CONTACT: Managing Attorney Jonathan Vogel, 704-552-3750, jonathan.vogel@vogelpllc.com.