ST. LOUIS — A federal judge in Missouri has issued two rulings narrowing a wrongful death lawsuit tied to alleged abuse at the former Agape Boarding School, dismissing Cedar County from the case while allowing major wrongful death claims against the boarding school itself to proceed toward trial.
In two orders issued April 30, U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool granted summary judgment in favor of Cedar County, on a federal civil rights claim brought by Kathleen Britt, the mother of Jason Britt, while simultaneously denying in part Agape Boarding School’s request to dismiss claims alleging abuse at the school contributed to Britt’s death in 2022.
Kathleen Britt filed the lawsuit individually, as the surviving parent, and as personal representative of her son’s estate.
The suit alleges Jason Britt attended Agape Boarding School in Stockton, for approximately four months between 2009 and 2010, when he was 16 years old and suffered physical and sexual abuse by staff members during that time.
According to the complaint summarized in the court orders, Britt alleged several staff members brutalized her son, including allegations that he was restrained while a broom or mop handle was inserted into his rectum.
The lawsuit claims the alleged abuse caused long-term psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies and substance abuse.
The suit further alleges that Jason Britt later became focused on weightlifting in an effort to protect himself from future assaults and began using anabolic steroids.
According to the complaint, he eventually suffered addiction issues and died from multi-organ failure connected to steroids, testosterone, high blood pressure, anxiety and drug addiction.
Agape Boarding School argued the claims should be dismissed because the connection between the alleged abuse and Britt’s death more than a decade later was too remote.
Attorneys for the school contended that Britt’s steroid use, alcohol use, medical conditions and dialysis-related issues were intervening causes that broke the chain of legal causation.
Harpool rejected that argument at the summary judgment stage, finding there were genuine disputes of material fact that must be resolved by a jury.
The court cited expert testimony from Peterson, who opined that Jason Britt suffered severe psychosexual trauma and symptoms consistent with childhood sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder following his time at Agape.
According to the order, the expert concluded that those conditions led Britt to use anabolic steroids in an attempt to physically protect himself and that steroid use ultimately contributed to his death.
Although Harpool described the alleged causal chain as “extremely thin,” he ruled the plaintiff should be permitted to present the evidence at trial.
The judge stated that if the evidence presented at trial fails to sufficiently connect the alleged abuse in 2009 and 2010 to Britt’s death in 2022, the claims could later be dismissed.
The order also referenced medical records from 2021 describing family conflicts and a prior suicide attempt involving Jason Britt.
The court stated those records could support Agape’s position that other traumatic experiences or intervening causes contributed to Britt’s steroid use and death, but concluded those issues were questions for a jury rather than grounds for summary judgment.
While allowing the negligence and wrongful death claims to continue, the judge dismissed one count alleging childhood sexual abuse under Missouri statute.
Harpool ruled that Missouri’s childhood sexual abuse law applies only to individuals who directly committed abusive acts and cannot be used to impose liability on a non-perpetrator entity such as Agape itself.
The court also ruled that any claims Jason Britt personally could have brought under Missouri’s general tort statutes were barred by the statute of limitations.
According to the ruling, Britt turned 21 in November 2013 and would have needed to file such claims by November 2018.
Because no claims were filed before his death, the court determined those claims could not proceed through the wrongful death lawsuit.
In a separate order issued the same day, Harpool dismissed the remaining claim against Cedar County, which had been sued alongside Agape Boarding School, former staff members and members of the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department.
Kathleen Britt alleged that Cedar County, through the sheriff’s department, maintained a practice of returning runaway students to Agape without adequately investigating allegations of abuse and failed to properly report or address complaints involving the school.
In opposing summary judgment, the plaintiff submitted affidavits from former Agape students who alleged they informed law enforcement officers about abuse after fleeing the school, but were returned to Agape anyway.
One former student, Colton Schrag, stated he told a deputy in 2008 that students were being beaten, but was returned to the school without a report being taken.
Another former student, James Griffey, alleged that multiple students who attempted to escape were returned by local authorities and that school staff claimed Agape influenced with Cedar County officials.
A third former student, Denzyl Dudley, stated he informed authorities about alleged abuse after fleeing the school, but said: “nothing was done.”
The court contrasted those statements with testimony from Cedar County Sheriff James “Jimbob” McCrary, who testified he conducted eight to 10 investigations involving Agape, many involving runaway students.
McCrary testified that students generally complained about strict rules rather than abuse and stated that if abuse allegations had been reported, standard procedures would have included gathering information, contacting juvenile authorities or the Children’s Division and potentially pursuing criminal charges if evidence supported them.
McCrary also testified that reports involving Agape had been made to Missouri’s Department of Family Services and that, to his knowledge, the Children’s Division determined those allegations were unsubstantiated.
In granting summary judgment to Cedar County, Harpool concluded the plaintiff failed to establish that the county deprived Jason Britt of a constitutional right.
The judge noted there was no evidence that Jason Britt himself ever ran away from Agape, was returned to the school by Cedar County officers or personally reported abuse to Cedar County authorities during the approximately four months he attended the school.
“The record indicates that Jason Britt, during his tenure at Agape for four months sometime in 2009 to 2010, never attempted an escape nor was he ever returned by a Cedar County officer,” Harpool wrote.
The judge further determined there was no evidence that allegations involving Jason Britt were ever reported to Cedar County officers or investigated by either Cedar County authorities or the Missouri Department of Family Services.
Because the plaintiff could not establish a constitutional violation against Britt himself, the court ruled Cedar County could not be held liable under federal civil rights law.
The orders formally grant summary judgment in favor of Cedar County on the Section 1983 claim while allowing key wrongful death and negligence claims against Agape Boarding School to proceed.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Southern Division case number: 6:23-cv-03316
