Pennsylvania Supreme Court weighs sex abuse exception to school district immunity
Pennsylvania's top court is examining whether school districts can be sued for negligence over student-on-student sexual assaults. The case turns on how the state's sovereign immunity exception is interpreted.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court examines scope of sex abuse immunity exception
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments over whether a sexual abuse exception in the state's Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act covers negligence claims against school districts when the alleged assault was carried out by a student rather than a district employee, law.com reports.
Justices questioned whether the statute focuses on the identity of the abuser or on whether the local agency's negligence enabled the assault to occur. The distinction is significant: if the exception applies only to abuse by employees, school districts could retain broad sovereign immunity in peer-on-peer assault cases.
The case centres on the standard for negligence in a school setting — specifically, whether a district's failure to prevent student-on-student sexual violence exposes it to civil liability under existing state law.
The court's ruling could have wide-reaching consequences for how victims of in-school sexual abuse pursue compensation through the courts in Pennsylvania. Advocates for plaintiffs argue that restricting the exception to employee-perpetrated abuse would effectively shield districts from accountability in many real-world scenarios, where peer assaults are more common than staff-perpetrated ones.
No ruling was issued at the close of Tuesday's session. The justices did not indicate a timeline for their decision.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)