SCRANTON – A minor who was allegedly sexually harassed and molested by a Stroudsburg Area School District music teacher and who had sued the district for its inaction in stopping the abuse and the teacher for those violations, has settled their case.
H.S. first filed a lawsuit against the district and teacher Brandon Flatley on Oct. 6, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Per the complaint, “H.S. became defendant Flatley’s student during the 2007 school year when she was in fourth grade and a student at Chipperfield Elementary School, also known as Stroudsburg Intermediate School.”
In April 2013, Flatley became friends with the minor on Facebook. After Flatley and the minor started exchanging messages, the content of those became sexual in nature, the suit said.
“Many of the messages which Flatley sent H.S. included photos of him in his underwear, and multiple audio clips of defendant Flatley telling H.S. about ‘touching, kissing and tasting’ her,” the complaint stated.
Flatley continued on the practice, with even more obscene acts against the minor, it was alleged.
“On multiple dates from October 2014 through December 2014, H.S., while unsupervised for swim practice, would visit defendant Flatley at his classroom and office at Chipperfield, where Flatley would penetrate her with his fingers and his tongue, in his closed-door office at Chipperfield School, during school hours,” the suit said.
On Nov. 23, 2014, H.S.’s mother found out about the sexual molestation and reported Flatley to the school superintendent, according to the suit. He was then suspended and arrested on Jan. 15, 2015, which was prominently reported by local media, the suit said.
Meanwhile, defendant Flatley was sentenced to prison in 2015.
The plaintiff was seeking damages for the emotional distress, and physical harm, as well as punitive damages for the district’s lack of action, plus attorney’s fees and costs.
In its November 2018 motion to dismiss, the school district sought dismissal of the case on the grounds that H.S. “fails to plead a claim” in all allegations presented in the lawsuit, adding that “plaintiff failed to sufficiently amend her claims, and failed to provide any factual averments that, if true, would support a claim.”
On May 14, U.S. District Judge Malachy E. Mannion said that after hearing from counsel for the parties, the case had been settled.
“In light of the foregoing, it is ordered that this action be dismissed without costs and without prejudice to the right of any party, upon good cause shown, to apply for reinstatement of the action within 60 days of the date of this order if settlement has not been consummated,” Mannion said.
“Failure of a party to apply for reinstatement (or an extension of this order to consummate the settlement) within the above 60-day time frame will result in the automatic conversion of this dismissal from one without prejudice to one with prejudice. The order referring this matter to Magistrate Judge Carlson for settlement purposes is vacated.”
Requests for comments and/or the terms of the settlement from the Pennsylvania Record to counsel for both the plaintiff and the school district were not answered.
The plaintiff was represented by James Swetz of Cramer Swetz McManus & Jordan, in Stroudsburg.
The defendants were represented by Joseph Connor III and Julia Jacobelli of Connor Weber & Oberlies in Paoli, plus James J. Musial and Michael I. Levin of Levin Legal Group, in Huntingdon Valley.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:17-cv-01839
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com