Philadelphia Board of Education Building
PHILADELPHIA – The school district of Philadelphia will face a lawsuit alleging a bus attendant spent 22 minutes on a phone call while a student seated right behind her was sexually assaulted.
A sexual abuse exception to the law governing claims against government agencies applies here, Judge Stacy Wallace of the Commonwealth Court wrote Dec. 26. The ruling affirms a decision from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas that rejected the district’s motion for summary judgment.
The court cited a previous ruling that says the exception doesn’t apply when the agency is accused of negligently enabling sexual abuse.
“In other words, for the sexual abuse exception to apply, there need not be an allegation that the local agency or one of its employees committed one of the enumerated acts,” Wallace wrote.
The allegations say 14-year-old K.W. sat on a bus in November 2021. K.W. is mentally disabled and took “special transportation” that was supposed to provide more safety and supervision by limiting the number of students.
Adults on the bus were driver David Johnson and attendant Sandra Williamson. But the complaint says Williamson was on a personal call in the seat in front of K.W. and another boy who was sexually assaulting K.W. over a 22-minute span.
The suit alleges physical injuries, emotional distress and other subsequent issues. In December 2023, the Philadelphia school district asserted a defense under the Tort Claims Act, which keeps plaintiffs from recovering from agencies for actions of third parties.
The Superior Court turned to a decision from earlier this year in a lawsuit alleging a female student was sexually assaulted by two male students behind gymnasium bleachers. The girl alleged the school district had failed to supervise teachers, and the Commonwealth Court let the case move forward.
The intent of the Tort Claims Act is to hold government agencies liable for “negligently enabling sexual abuse,” the court ruled then. The June ruling was hailed by Pennsylvania’s plaintiffs lawyers, whose group had filed an amicus brief in the case.
