SCRANTON – A federal magistrate judge has denied the Hanover Area School District’s attempt to dismiss claims from a local man, who alleged that his daughter was mistreated and neglected by her softball coach, leading her to eventually suffer a severe brain injury when a batted ball hit her in the back of the head.
Joseph Mangan (as parent and natural guardian of A.M., a minor) first filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Oct. 7, 2022 versus Hanover Area School District, Varsity Girls Softball Coach Katherine Healey and Athletic Director Russell Davis. All parties are of Hanover Township.
At the time of the events in question, A.M. was a student at Hanover Area High School and a member of the Varsity Girls Softball team.
“On or about Feb. 16, 2016, defendant Healey was appointed by Hanover Area School District as the Varsity Girls Softball Coach for Hanover Area High School. Upon information and belief, defendant Healey did not complete an application for this position until March 2, 2016, several weeks after she was appointed by Hanover Area School District. Upon information and belief, defendant Healey was given preference over several more qualified candidates due to her status as an educator within Hanover Area School District,” the suit said.
“In 2018, while serving as Varsity Girls Basketball Coach for Pittston Area High School, a high school within a neighboring school district, defendant Healey was publicly accused of mistreating, harassing, and/or bullying several players. The parents of the players involved spoke before the Pittston Area School Board on several occasions regarding concerns about defendant Healey’s mistreatment of players, and the allegations were covered by multiple local news outlets. At least one student elected to transfer from Pittston Area High School as a result of defendant Healey’s behavior. Upon information and belief, following the 2019 basketball season the Pittston Area School District elected not to rehire defendant Healey as Girls Varsity Basketball Coach due to the behavior described above.”
The suit added defendant Healey continued to use a defective pitching machine, despite the risks posed to players and coaches, and was the subject of several complaints of mistreatment made to co-defendant Davis over the 2019 Girls Softball Season. No disciplinary or corrective action was taken by the District or Davis in response to the complaints against Healey, the suit continues, and the machine was also used during the 2021 Girls Softball Season. This despite the fact that the machine injured two players at that time, with one of them suffering a fractured hand.
The suit also said that Healey bullied her players, including mocking the hearing impairment of one of them.
“The entire Hanover Area coaching staff, including defendant Healey, were aware that minor plaintiff A.M. had been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder resulting from exposure to childhood trauma. On or about April 27, 2021, minor plaintiff A.M. was subjected to severe verbal abuse and humiliation by defendant Healey in front of the entire team during a softball game and experienced what she refers to as a panic attack during the game. On the following day, April 28, 2021, defendant Healey specifically and intentionally made reference to minor plaintiff’s panic attack at practice in front of the entire softball team, causing minor plaintiff further humiliation and anxiety. Defendant Healey then intentionally singled minor plaintiff out, specifically instructing her to pitch batting practice from close range, approximately 15-20 feet from the batter, despite the fact that an assistant coach had volunteered to pitch,” the suit stated.
“On the aforementioned date, minor plaintiff was instructed to use a square pitching screen to protect her from the danger of batted balls. The pitching screen that was provided was in deplorable condition and required the use of heavy tarps to weigh down the base, in an apparent effort to prevent the screen from blowing over due to wind. The pitching screen did not have an opening that would have allowed minor plaintiff to remain protected behind the screen while pitching, instead she was required to step to the side of the screen and tarps to pitch where she was unprotected from batted balls. Minor plaintiff verbalized concern about her safety to defendant Healey on several occasions, indicating that she was scared and did not feel safe pitching. Her concerns were ignored by defendant Healey and her coaching staff, and the drill went forward as described above. While pitching batting practice, minor plaintiff was hit in the back of the head by a batted ball and knocked unconscious on the field.”
As a result of the incident described above, the minor plaintiff sustained severe and permanent injuries, including but not limited to: A concussion with ongoing cognitive dysfunction and traumatic brain injury, severe and constant headaches, cervical sprain and strain with radiculopathy, fractured left rib, numbness and tingling in her hands with color changes, brachial plexus injury and neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome.
On Dec. 7, 2022, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state claims upon which relief could be granted, and which sought to dismiss a number of paragraphs from the complaint.
“Defendants Hanover School District, Healey and Davis, by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby move to dismiss the complaint filed by plaintiff Joseph Mangan, as parent and natural guardian of A.M., a minor pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state claims upon which relief can be granted. Defendants also move to dismiss Paragraphs 13-20, 22-27 and 52 of plaintiff’s complaint pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(f), on the basis that some or all of the allegations contained therein are scandalous and impertinent matters,” the motion stated.
The paragraphs in question pertain to the plaintiff’s allegations against defendant Healey dealing with her alleged adverse behavior to players in the past.
In a Jan. 20 reply brief to the dismissal motion, Mangan maintains that the District must be held accountable for the claims at issue.
“Plaintiff’s complaint lays out numerous allegations in detail describing how the School District is directly liable to plaintiff, without relying upon a theory of vicarious liability. Plaintiff’s complaint alleges that 1) Defendant Healey was accusing of bullying while at Pittston Area High School; 2) Parents spoke before the Pittstown Area School Board regarding this bullying; 3) Defendant Hanover Area School District proceeded to hire defendant Healey as varsity softball coach despite these allegations, and with knowledge that she had no relevant coaching experience; 4) Multiple Hanover Area coaches and parents voiced concern regarding defendant Healey's behavior, with at least one coach speaking to AD Davis directly about mistreatment of players and coaches by defendant Healey; and 5) Defendant Hanover Area School District took no action to protect their softball players despite knowledge of the above,” the brief stated.
“Plaintiff’s complaint clearly establishes a pattern of violations that rise to the level of deliberate indifference. In light of the known pattern of consistent mistreatment of players, sooner or later it was inevitable that one would be injured. Several players had already been injured by defendant Healey's continued used of a defective pitching machine. Despite this, Hanover Area School District and defendant Davis took no action to protect students. In this case, minor plaintiff has sufficiently plead facts to show that defendant Hanover Area School District is liable and the motion to dismiss should be denied.”
UPDATE
U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph F. Saporito issued an order denying the Hanover Area School District’s dismissal motion, on Sept. 28.
“Upon consideration of the parties’ briefs, and having found that the complaint alleges sufficient facts to raise a reasonable expectation that, discovery will reveal evidence of wrongful conduct, that this is one of the ‘vast majority of cases’ in which further development of the factual record is necessary before we may appropriately decide the issue of qualified immunity, and that the several paragraphs of the complaint the defendants have specified in their motion are not so unrelated to the controversy or potentially prejudicial to merit being stricken under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f), it is hereby ordered that: The defendants’ motion to dismiss and supplemental motion to dismiss are denied and the defendants shall file and serve their answer to the complaint within 14 days after entry of this order,” Saporito ruled.
For counts of civil rights violations under the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, the plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, jointly and severally, in excess of the statutory limit for arbitration, together with interest and costs.
The plaintiffs are represented by Ian S. Abovitz and Joseph A. Cullen of Stark & Stark, in Yardley.
The defendants are represented by Mark W. Bufalino of Bufalino Law in Trucksville, Julia A. Levin and Michael I. Levin of Levin Law Group, in Huntingdon Valley, plus Brian J. Taylor and John E. Freund III of King Spry Herman Freund & Faul, both in Bethlehem.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 3:22-cv-01578
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com