Texas Dallas jury awards $9.3M to expelled student All-female jury saw sexual relationship as abuse

By Sylvia Hsieh The Daily Record Newswire BOSTON -- A two-lawyer firm has won a $9.3 million jury verdict against a Dallas prep school for expelling a high school student after a sexual relationship with a teacher was uncovered. After police discovered 34 year-old history teacher J. Nathan Campbell in a parked car with the 16-year-old student, known as Jane Doe, the Episcopal School in Dallas first told the teenager's parents that the school supported her completely and that her privacy would be protected. But two months later she was forced to withdraw. "There was a lot of gossip around the school and they wanted to sweep it under the rug. ... They were trying to get her out of there because they didn't want to sully their pristine reputation," said winning attorney Charla G. Aldous of her client, who had attended the school since kindergarten. Although Aldous worried from the beginning that a jury might view the relationship as consensual rather than as sexual abuse, the all-female jury saw things her way. "I think it did actually matter that the jury was all female. Many of them had children and were very protective," said Aldous of the six-woman jury headed by a 45 year-old married African-American mother of three children. Chrysta Casteneda, who represented the Episcopal School of Dallas at trial, did not return a call seeking comment for this article. During her junior year at the most expensive private school in Dallas, Doe began getting tutoring help from Campbell, her world history teacher. Their interactions became increasingly personal, culminating in a seven month sexual relationship. According to the plaintiff's psychology expert, this was a "grooming" process typical of sexual predators. Aldous argued at trial that there were many "red flags" the school should have noticed, including 7,000 text messages from Campbell to Doe on a school-issued iPhone and a hotel reservation on a school credit card. According to Aldous, the defense argued that the relationship was consensual and that Doe flirted with the teacher and gossiped about their relationship. But she countered that sex with a 16 year-old is statutory rape in Texas. The most "explosive" piece of evidence at trial, said Aldous, was an e-mail from the head of the upper school, Erin Mayo, to the chief academic officer, Rebecca Royall, produced only a week before trial. The e-mail recommended that the school insist on getting Jane Doe's father to sign a withdrawal for his daughter, because "I don't want the girl haunting our hallways with her sad story." As the highly-publicized trial progressed, other parents and students surfaced with their own stories. One father of a former student came forward during the trial and testified that in 1992 a teacher at the school inappropriately touched his daughter. The headmaster, Father Steve Swann, initially told him his daughter had to leave the school, but later said she could stay as long as she didn't file a complaint. "I felt like I made a deal with the devil," the parent testified at trial. Doe herself, now a college student, testified emotionally that she felt shame about the relationship. According to Aldous, the defense played a phone message Doe left Campbell after the scandal was exposed, begging him to call her. "She left two messages saying, 'Please, please, please call me. I don't know what to do or say,' and she started sobbing. The defense lawyer played it back, but it backfired. It showed she was reaching out to this predator in a very dependent way. She sounded like a desperate child," said Aldous. In closing arguments, Aldous told the jury that the mission statement of the Episcopal School of Dallas says that all children are made in the image of a loving God. "Even those who are sexually abused," Aldous said in closing arguments. Aldous had told the jury during voir dire that she would ask for a range of $8 to $10 million in damages, but in her closing she left it up to the jury to put a number on the damages, telling them they had to "search their hearts and minds" for the appropriate amount. The all-female jury awarded a total of $9.3 million, including $8.6 million in compensatory damages and $700,000 in punitive damages for gross negligence. Three administrators at the school including Father Swann, who founded the school in 1974, testified that they felt it was in Doe's best interest to leave the school and to start over somewhere new. Aldous said the jury was offended by the school's response, which she compared to the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandals. "They completely betrayed a child and a family in crisis to try to protect their reputation. They wanted everything to be neat and tidy. This was ugly and dirty. ... This school should have rallied around this family, but they did just the opposite," Aldous said. The jury forewoman apparently agreed, telling lawyers after the trial that Father Swann "needed to get down on his knees and stop hiding behind the cloak." Published: Thu, Oct 13, 2011