A bronze statue of Lady Justice holding scales is displayed indoors.
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – A student bullied by teammates on a baseball trip to South Carolina can’t blame the Williamsport Area School District in court, a Pennsylvania federal judge has decided.
Judge Matthew Brann ruled for WASD last month in the case of a John Doe who sued after a teammate known as B.M. placed his genitals near Doe’s face while Doe slept in a hotel room in Myrtle Beach. The act was recorded and spread among other players and students, which led to further bullying, Doe said.
But WASD isn’t liable, Brann said in a 64-page opinion.
“The Court reiterates its sympathy for Doe,” Brann wrote. “B.M.’s conduct in Myrtle Beach was wholly inappropriate, and the Court does not doubt that Doe was emotionally distressed as a result.
“But the record as developed by Doe’s counsel does not contain evidence from which a reasonable jury could impose liability for that harm against a more attenuated party – WASD.”
WASD paid for the Williamsport Area Millionaires baseball team to play in a week-long tournament in 2018, while the booster club paid for accommodations. The team stayed in a hotel after its first choice overbooked, and Doe said the rooms for players were spread out.
Players signed a code of conduct before leaving. It forbid the “use of obscene or profane language or gestures,” among other things. Roommates were chosen based on friendships and seniority, and a curfew was imposed – though Doe alleged coaches did not continue to make sure players were in their rooms through the night.
Doe was asleep in his room when “B.M. put his bare penis and buttocks in the vicinity of Doe’s face and mouth” while another player recorded it. When Doe woke up, he found players laughing in his room.
His lawsuit alleged there were other inappropriate instances during the trip thanks to a lack of adult supervision, while one player was disciplined for buying marijuana. Ultimately, the student who took the video confessed to a youth league baseball coach who worked for Children and Youth Services, leading to a ChildLine report.
Doe sued over the subsequent bullying, which included a profane nickname. WASD administrators testified that Doe downplayed the incident so they did not arrange for emotional or other support. Doe was homeschooled the next year before attending another school the year after that.
Doe could not show that WASD had actual knowledge of the incident while in Myrtle Beach, Brann ruled, and the district is afforded immunity under the Pennsylvania Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act.
There is an exception to that immunity for sexual abuse involving penetration by “an attacker’s genitalia and a victim’s lips.” But the video did not show that happening, Brann said, despite Doe’s assertion that it did.
“With an inconclusive video and no supporting testimony, a factfinder could only reach Doe’s conclusion about the incident through a series of inferences,” Brann wrote.
“One could easily infer that B.M.’s shirt or pants touched Doe, and it is similarly possible that Doe’s nose or cheek or chin was touched. Nothing in the record tips the scale in Doe’s direction on either of those points other than his own testimony, which recursively derives from the video.”
