Aliʻiōlani Hale, home of the Hawaii Supreme Court
HONOLULU - The Hawaii Supreme Court ordered the state to pay $14 million to a woman with severe mental disabilities who was repeatedly sexually abused in high school despite strong evidence fellow students were taking advantage of her.
The high court ordered full damages to be paid to the plaintiff identified as Amy, reversing a trial judge’s apportionment of 30% of the liability to boys who had sex with her. The trial court had no evidence those boys knew Amy was incapable of consenting to sex, the Supreme Court held, and the state never specifically identified them as co-defendants.
Amy entered McKinley High School in 2008 with the mental age of a five-year-old, although she had no outward signs of disability. She was diagnosed in the third grade and had an IQ of 40.
Despite these limitations, she was put in a pre-algebra class with higher functioning students. Her teacher objected, especially after hearing rumors Amy was performing oral sex on a boy. There is no record of the mother being informed of the abuse.
The teacher recommended she be placed on a non-diploma track, which her mother also requested. Amy remained in the mainstream classes, however.
By 2009, multiple teachers reported Amy was said to be having sex with boys, including one who took her to a park and assaulted her in the bathroom. As the reports continued to come in, the teachers didn’t notify school officials. The school did suspend the girl and another special education student after they were caught in the bathroom together.
In 2011, an unnamed school employee wrote “whenever unsupervised,” Amy “has given into peer persuasion, including sex acts, to gain peer attention and friendship.” Based on the report, the school ordered any future incidents to be reported to her mother and the vice principal.
Soon after beginning her senior year, however, Amy had a psychotic break and was hospitalized for three months. A doctor diagnosed her in 2015 with post-traumatic stress disorder from the sexual assaults, which the trial judge found was “persistent and untreatable.”
At trial, the state argued the sex acts were consensual and there was no evidence the school was to blame. The state also argued Amy’s mother was partly liable. She didn’t have a duty to report anything to the school, but “she had information that for whatever reason, whether it was shame or a personality disorder … she chose not to share this information.”
The judge ordered $14 million in damages, including $191,000 in past medical expenses and $7.8 million for future care. That was reduced to 70% by apportioning liability to the boys. The Supreme Court said that was an error, given the lack of evidence in the record proving the boys were liable. The state forfeited its argument for apportionment by never specifically requesting liability be assigned to the boys, the court concluded.
