David M.

Ring (SBN 151124)

1
Sonya Ostovar (SBN 307207)
2 TAYLOR & RING
1230 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 360
3 Manhattan Beach, California 90266
Telephone: (310) 209-4100
4

5
Attorneys for Plaintiffs,
6 JANE DOE, a minor, by and through her guardian, HEIDI B.,
7
HEIDI B., individually, and JACOB B., individually

8
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
9

10
FOR THE COUNTY OF PLACER

11
JANE DOE, a minor, by through her guardian, ) CASE NO.
12 HEIDI B.; )
)
HEIDI B., individually; and )
13 COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES;
JACOB B., individually ) DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
14
)
Plaintiffs, )
15
)
)
-vs.- )
16
)
17 PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL )
DISTRICT, a public entity; )
)
18 BENJAMIN DUNCAN, individually; and )
DOES 1-60, )
19
)
20 Defendants. )
)
21
)
)
22
)

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Plaintiff, JANE DOE, a minor, by and through her guardian, HEIDI B., HEIDI B., individually,
24
and JACOB B., individually hereby file their Complaint and complain and allege as follows:
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28
THE PARTIES

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 1. Plaintiff JANE DOE (Plaintiff) is currently a 16-year-old female who resides in El
2 Dorado County, California. Plaintiff was a victim of sexual harassment perpetrated by her teacher and
3 band director at Del Oro High School in Loomis, California. As such, Plaintiff's identity has been
4 concealed from public court filings in order to prevent those not directly involved in this action from
5 learning her identity and making her identity public. Such a public disclosure would further harm
6 Plaintiff.
7 2. Plaintiff HEIDI B. is Plaintiff JANE DOEs mother who currently resides in El Dorado
8 County, California.
9 3. Plaintiff JACOB B. is Plaintiff JANE DOEs father who currently resides in El Dorado
10 County, California.
11 4. Defendant PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT (PUHSD) and DOES 1
12 through 10 is a public school district existing under the laws of the State of California. Its main office is
13 located at 13000 New Airport, Auburn, CA 95603.
14 5. Defendants DOES 11-30 are administrators, teachers, staff, employees and agents of
15 Defendant PUHSD who owed a duty of care to Plaintiff and breached that duty of care, as described in
16 more detail herein.
17 6. Del Oro High School is a high school operated by and under the control of Defendant
18 PUHSD, its governing school board, superintendent, administrators, and employees. Del Oro High
19 School is located at 3301 Taylor Rd, Loomis, CA 95650.
20 7. Defendant BENJAMIN DUNCAN and DOES 31-40 was a resident of Placer County,
21 California. DUNCANs misconduct toward Plaintiff, includes sexual harassment, interference with the
22 education of a minor, and other tortious misconduct during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school year
23 when Plaintiff was approximately 14-16 years old. At the time, DUNCAN was in his mid-30s.
24 8. Jurisdiction is proper in Placer County because the defendants are either residents of
25 Placer County or do business in Placer County, and also because the acts which are the basis of this

26 lawsuit occurred in Placer County.

27 9. The true names and capacities of each defendant designated herein as DOES 1 through

28 60, whether an individual, business, public entity, or some other entity, are presently unknown to

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 Plaintiff, who therefore sues said defendants by such fictitious names, pursuant to Code of Civil
2 Procedure section 474. Each DOE defendant is responsible in some actionable manner for the events
3 alleged herein. Plaintiff will amend the Complaint to state the true names and capacities of said
4 defendants when the same have been ascertained.
5 10. Each of the defendants sued herein as DOES 1 through 60 was the agent and employee of
6 each of the remaining defendants and was at all times acting within the course and scope of such agency
7 and employment with the full knowledge, consent, authority, ratification and/or permission of each of
8 the remaining defendants.
9 11. Wherever appearing in this complaint, each and every reference to Defendants, or any of
10 them, is intended to include, and shall be deemed to include, all fictitiously named defendants.
11 GENERAL ALLEGATIONS
12 12. Plaintiff was 14 years old when she entered the tenth grade for the 2015-2016 school year
13 at Del Oro High School. Defendant Benjamin Duncan was Plaintiffs teacher and school band director.
14 13. Soon after the school year began, Duncan began grooming Plaintiff with the calculated
15 intent to gain her trust and friendship beyond what would be considered a normal teacher-student
16 relationship. Duncans intent for doing so was and remains unclear. But, his actions in doing so were far
17 beyond any normal boundaries between a teacher and student. Duncan began the grooming process
18 through constant text messages, emails, and phone calls to Plaintiff at all hours of the day and night,
19 generally starting around 5:00 a.m. in the morning and up until 2:00 a.m. at night. Duncan exchanged
20 thousands of personal text messages with Plaintiff during the months he was grooming her. Duncan also
21 routinely made secret late-night phone calls to Plaintiff, which often lasted hours at a time. Duncan also
22 often wrote personal handwritten notes to Plaintiff and secretly delivered the notes. Further, and yet
23 another form of emotional manipulation, Duncan made entries in Plaintiffs personal journal and
24 requested that Plaintiff do the same in his personal journal.
25 14. Through it all, Duncan was fully aware of the inappropriate nature of his interactions

26 with Plaintiff, texting Plaintiff things such as, Be smart. I'm gonna send you an email. Don't reply to it

27 and instructing Plaintiff to erase and clear text messages between them in order to conceal his

28 misconduct.

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 15. Duncan sent Plaintiff hundreds of text messages directly aimed at grooming and
2 ultimately harassing Plaintiff, including, but not limited to, the following:
3 Do you wanna text-cry on me? I can be quiet and I'm wearing a comfortable shirt to cry on.
4 Does he know that you have kinda adopted me as a confidant? And that you speak to me
5 about things that you sometimes have trouble sharing with others?
6 I am also sad when you are held away from me because I want you in my class for more
7 selfish reasons. You know how I feel about you (I think you are great) and I want you
8 around.
9 I want you to know that I am your partner for this 1.5 years we have left and I care about
10 DM about 1% as much as I care about being there for you.
11 I remember being very interested in you right away.
12 I'm glad you came along fairly early in my career.
13 I woke up this morning and thought I wasn't going to get out of the house and I was like
14 this is it - this is it for me I'm done and then I did get out and I got to see u!
15 I love you.
16 ...*huge hug that immobilizes your body* I love you so much...
17 *whispers* I hope your Friday is better than your Thursday. I love you.
18 *big hug* Don't reject it
19 Back to us....I can safely say at this point that I have never been as close to student as I have
20 been to you. This has happened for many reasons and I am happy to have known you so
21 well. I hope that we can keep it up (I think we can!). It is a risk to allow a student to get
22 close. Can you think of any reasons why?
23 You officially know everything about me now.
24 I remember not too long ago you were having a rough night. We text hugged and you text
25 cried on my shoulder. And I said something about how awesome you are and I'm sure it was

26 SUPER cheesy and perhaps overly-dramatic. But it was right for that moment and it was an

27 expression of my true feelings that was perfect for the context of the moment. This speech

28 may come [off] as unnecessarily passionate when you look back on it someday (maybe) but

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 in the moment that it is presented_ it will be gold! It will feel right and the personal nature of
2 it is part of why it is persuasive.
3 Can you please just come live with us?
4 Just come live with us for the rest of break.
5 ...We have literally texted every day for over 3 months. And most days prior to that going
6 back to the start of the school year. I expect to miss you.
7 But IF we were not close_ I almost feel like your life would be easier (I know I've said this
8 before and I think you got mad)
9 16. In January 2017, Duncan contacted Plaintiffs mother, Heidi B., requesting to take
10 Plaintiff on a weekend camping trip without her parents framing it as a bonding experience for
11 members of the school band. Before Heidi had a chance to get back to Duncan with a response, Duncan
12 sent a text message to Heidi following up about his request. Ultimately, Heidi did not allow Plaintiff to
13 attend the weekend camping trip. Nevertheless, Duncan followed up with Heidi once again attempting to
14 convince Heidi to reconsider and allow Plaintiff to attend the trip.
15 17. In late-January 2017, realizing the strange nature of Duncans insistence that Plaintiff
16 attend the weekend camping trip, Plaintiffs parents, Heidi B. and Jacob B., reviewed some of Plaintiffs
17 text messages and first discovered Duncans misconduct toward their minor daughter. Plaintiffs parents
18 immediately reported Duncan to the local police. Plaintiffs parents also immediately contacted several
19 members of PUHSDs administration, including the school principal, regarding Duncans misconduct.
20 18. PUHSD deemed Duncans conduct as inappropriate and acknowledged that Duncan
21 failed to maintain professional standards or boundaries with a minor. Nevertheless, even after Heidi and
22 Jacob presented PUHSD with various forms of written evidence displaying Duncans misconduct,
23 PUHSD allowed Duncan to return to teaching. Further, during the time period that PUHSD investigated
24 Duncans misconduct, PUHSD perpetrated a lie to both students and parents that Duncans absence was
25 medically related. However, in reality, Duncan was placed on administrative leave while he was being

26 investigated for misconduct towards a minor.

27 19. Given PUHSDs unprecedented decision to protect Duncan and keep him employed at

28 Del Oro High School, Plaintiff and her parents were faced with no option other than to remove Plaintiff

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 from Del Oro High School. Duncan was allowed to keep his job, but Plaintiff had to leave high school
2 before the end of her junior year. Simply put, PUHSD chose Duncan over their students well-being and
3 safety.
4 COMPLIANCE WITH GOVERNMENT TORT CLAIMS ACT
5 20. On or about May 12, 2017 Plaintiffs presented a Government Tort Claim for Damages to
6 Defendant WUHSD. On June 6, 2017, Defendant PUHSD formally "rejected" Plaintiffs government
7 tort claim and mailed notice of the same.
8 21. This complaint was filed within six months of the date when Defendant PUHSD rejected
9 the government tort claim. As such, Plaintiff has filed suit in a timely fashion.
10 FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION
11 INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
12 (On Behalf of Plaintiff JANE DOE Against
13 Defendant BENJAMIN DUNCAN and DOES 31-40)
14 22. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein each and every allegation
15 contained herein above as though fully set forth and brought in this cause of action.
16 23. Acting with knowledge of his superior position and his special relationship with
17 Plaintiff, and realizing Plaintiffs special susceptibility to emotional distress due to Plaintiffs age,
18 inexperience, and vulnerability, Defendant DUNCAN commenced upon a course of grooming Plaintiff
19 so that he could ultimately harass her. At all times DUNCAN was a teacher and band director at
20 Plaintiff's high school and he used this position to gain Plaintiff's trust and friendship, knowing that he
21 could then take advantage of Plaintiff.
22 24. DUNCANs misconduct was outrageous, particularly because of the age difference
23 between himself and Plaintiff (Plaintiff was in her mid-teens, DUNCAN was in his 30s) and because
24 he was Plaintiffs trusted mentor at the high school. DUNCAN used this trust to his advantage by
25 manipulating Plaintiff's emotions and exploited her.
26 25. DUNCANs acts were intentional, willful, oppressive, and malicious and done for the
27 purpose of causing Plaintiff to suffer emotional harm, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional
28 distress or with reckless disregard for the likelihood that he would cause Plaintiff such distress.

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 26. As a direct and legal result of Defendants' actions and misconduct, Plaintiff suffered
2 and continues to suffer severe and permanent injuries including, but not limited to, physical and
3 mental pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, psychological harm, physical injuries, past and
4 future costs of medical care and treatment, and past and future loss of earnings and earning capacity,
5 and other damages in an amount not yet ascertained, but which will exceed the minimum jurisdictional
6 limits of this Court.
7 27. In committing the acts described herein, the conduct of Defendant DUNCAN was
8 despicable, and done with malice, oppression and fraud, justifying an award of punitive damages
9 against him.
10 SECOND CAUSE OF ACTION
11 NEGLIGENT HIRING, SUPERVISION & RETENTION OF AN UNFIT EMPLOYEE
12 (On Behalf of Plaintiff JANE DOE against Defendant PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL
13 DISTRICT and DOES 1-30)
14 28. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein each and every allegation
15 contained herein above as though fully set forth and brought in this cause of action.
16 29. Defendant PUHSD had the responsibility and duty to adequately and properly
17 investigate, hire, train and supervise its teachers and staff so as to protect its students from harm
18 caused by unfit and dangerous individuals hired as teachers.
19 30. Defendant PUHSD knew or should have known that DUNCAN was unfit to be a
20 teacher before it hired him. Had Defendant PUHSD conducted an appropriate and reasonable
21 investigation into DUNCANs professional background, said Defendant PUHSD would have learned
22 that UNCAN was unfit to be a teacher and would not have hired him.
23 31. Once hired, PUHSD knew, had reason to know, or was otherwise on notice, that
24 DUNCAN was harassing female students, prior to the time he harassed Plaintiff. Defendant PUHSD
25 failed to take reasonable steps or implement reasonable safeguards to ensure that such misconduct did

26 not occur in the future.

27 32. DUNCAN engaged in other behavior and misconduct that PUHSD knew or should

28 have known about, including improper texting of female students, improper relationships with female

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 students, and improper interactions with female students. PUHSD failed to take sufficient or
2 reasonable action to curb DUNCANs misconduct. In fact, even after Plaintiffs parents, HEIDI B. and
3 JACOB B., presented PUHSD with various forms of written evidence displaying DUNCANs
4 misconduct toward Plaintiff, PUHSD allowed DUNCAN to continue teaching at Del Oro High School.
5 Given PUHSDs decision to protect Duncan and keep him employed at Del Oro High School, Plaintiff
6 and her parents were faced with no option other than to remove Plaintiff from Del Oro High School.
7 33. As such, Defendant PUHSD failed to exercise reasonable care in hiring, supervising
8 and retaining DUNCAN.
9 34. Had Defendant PUHSD properly investigated, supervised, and monitored DUNCAN, it
10 would have learned that he was unfit to be employed as a teacher. By failing to adequately supervise,
11 monitor or investigate, Defendants allowed PUHSD to continue, unhindered, with his misconduct
12 directed towards underage students, including Plaintiff.
13 35. Defendants PUHSD negligently hired, supervised, retained, monitored and otherwise
14 employed DUNCAN and negligently failed to ensure the safety of its minor students, including
15 Plaintiff, who were each entrusted to PUHSDs custody, care and control.
16 36. Had Defendant PUHSD performed their duties and responsibilities to monitor,
17 supervise, and/or investigate its teacher, Plaintiff would not have been subject to the harassment and
18 other harmful conduct inflicted upon her.
19 37. As a direct and legal result of this conduct, Plaintiff suffered severe and permanent
20 injuries including, but not limited to, physical and mental pain and suffering, severe emotional distress,
21 psychological harm, physical injuries, past and future costs of medical care and treatment, and past
22 and future loss of earnings and earning capacity, and other damages, in an amount not yet ascertained,
23 but which exceed the minimum jurisdictional limits of this Court.
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27 THIRD CAUSE OF ACTION

28 NEGLIGENT FAILURE TO WARN, TRAIN, OR EDUCATE

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 (On Behalf of Plaintiff JANE DOE, HEIDI B., and JACOB B.
2 against Defendant PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND DOES 1-30)
3 38. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein each and every allegation
4 contained herein above as though fully set forth and brought in this cause of action.
5 39. Defendant PUHSD had a duty to warn, train and educate the students in its custody,
6 care and control, like Plaintiff, on known and knowable dangers posed by its faculty and staff.
7 Defendant PUHSD also had a duty to warn the parents of the students in its custody, care and control,
8 like HEIDI B. and JACOB B., on known and knowable dangers posed by its faculty and staff.
9 40. Defendant PUHSD also had a duty to warn, train and educate its faculty and staff on its
10 sexual harassment policy and inappropriate boundary crossing with students.
11 41. Defendant PUHSD breached their duty to Plaintiff, HEIDI B., and JACOB B. by failing
12 to warn them of known and knowable dangers posed by its faculty and staff, including DUNCAN; by
13 failing to inform and educate Plaintiff on its sexual harassment policies and the methods to identify,
14 report and respond to inappropriate sexual harassment by teachers; and by failing to train its faculty,
15 including DUNCAN, on PUHSDs sexual harassment policies.
16 42. As a result of Defendant PUHSD having breached their duty to warn, train or educate
17 Plaintiff and her parents, HEIDI B. and JACOB B., Plaintiff was groomed, manipulated, and
18 ultimately sexually harassed by DUNCAN.
19 43. Had PUHSD fulfilled their duties and responsibilities, Plaintiff, HEIDI B., and JACOB
20 B. would not have been injured and damaged.
21 44. As a direct and legal result of this negligent conduct, Plaintiff, HEIDI B., and JACOB
22 B. suffered severe and permanent injuries including, but not limited to, physical and mental pain and
23 suffering, severe emotional distress, psychological harm, physical injuries, past and future costs of
24 medical care and treatment, and past and future loss of earnings and earning capacity, and other
25 damages, in an amount not yet ascertained, but which exceed the minimum jurisdictional limits of this

26 Court.

27

28 FOURTH CAUSE OF ACTION

COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION OF A MINOR
2 (On Behalf of Plaintiff JANE DOE against
3 Defendant PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND DOES 1-30)
4 45. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein each and every allegation
5 contained herein above as though fully set forth and brought in this cause of action.
6 46. Defendant PUHSD was responsible for the care, custody, control, supervision and
7 protection of the minor students entrusted to them; like Plaintiff. Thus, PUHSD had a duty to
8 adequately and properly supervise, monitor and protect Plaintiff from known and knowable dangers;
9 like DUNCAN.
10 47. Defendant PUHSD breached their duty to properly and adequately supervise, monitor and
11 protect Plaintiff by, in part, ignoring clear and obvious signs that DUNCAN was engaged in repeated
12 inappropriate and harassing relationships with his underage female students; allowing Plaintiff to spend
13 unsupervised one-on-one time with DUNCAN; and by allowing DUNCAN to repeatedly sexually harass
14 Plaintiff on campus and during school band related activities.
15 48. Had Defendant PUHSD adequately and properly supervised, monitored and protected its
16 students, Plaintiff would not have been harmed.
17 49. Defendant PUHSD also recklessly and negligently failed to implement and/or enforce
18 policies or procedures that were aimed at preventing or detecting the harassment of its students which
19 fell well below the standard of care.
20 50. Had Defendant PUHSD adequately performed their duty and responsibility, then Plaintiff
21 would not have been subject to the harassment as alleged herein.
22 51. As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions of PUHSD as alleged herein,
23 Plaintiff suffered severe and permanent injuries including, but not limited to, physical and mental pain
24 and suffering, severe emotional distress, psychological harm, injuries, past and future costs of medical
25 care and treatment, and past and future loss of earnings and earning capacity, and other damages, in an

26 amount not yet ascertained, but which exceed the minimum jurisdictional limits of this Court.

27 FIFTH CAUSE OF ACTION

28 SEXUAL HARASSMENT (Civ. Code 51.9 & 52)

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COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 (On Behalf of Plaintiff JANE DOE and Against Defendant BENJAMIN DUNCAN, PLACER
2 UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT AND DOES 1-40)
3 52. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates by reference herein each and every allegation
4 contained herein above as though fully set forth and brought in this cause of action.
5 53. Plaintiff had a teacher-student relationship with DUNCAN engaged in verbal, written,
6 and other conduct of a sexual nature based on her gender that were unwelcome and pervasive.
7 54. DUNCAN began grooming Plaintiff with the calculated intent to gain her trust and
8 friendship so that he could ultimately sexually harass her and abuse her. DUNCAN began the
9 grooming process through constant text messages, emails, and phone calls to Plaintiff at all hours of
10 the day and night, generally starting around 5:00 a.m. in the morning and up until 2:00 a.m. at night.
11 DUNCAN exchanged thousands of deeply personal text messages with Plaintiff during the months he
12 was grooming her. DUNCAN also routinely made secret late-night phone calls to Plaintiff, which
13 often lasted hours at a time. DUNCAN also often wrote deeply personal handwritten notes to Plaintiff
14 and secretly delivered the notes. Further, and yet another form of emotional manipulation, DUNCAN
15 made entries in Plaintiffs personal journal and requested that Plaintiff do the same in his personal
16 journal.
17 55. There was an inability by Plaintiff to easily terminate the relationship since DUNCAN
18 was her teacher and band director, and Plaintiff was a minor under his care and control.
19 56. Implicitly or explicitly, PUHSD aided, incited, ratified, and/or conspired in the denial
20 of Plaintiffs right to be free from sexual harassment by her teacher and thus allowed him to repeatedly
21 sexually harass Plaintiff.
22 57. As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions of Defendants PUHSD and
23 DUNCAN alleged herein, Plaintiff suffered severe and permanent injuries including, but not limited to,
24 physical and mental pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, psychological harm, physical injuries,
25 past and future costs of medical care and treatment, and past and future loss of earnings and earning

26 capacity, and other damages, in an amount not yet ascertained, but which exceed the minimum

27 jurisdictional limits of this Court.

28 58. Pursuant to Section 52 of the California Civil Code, Plaintiff also seeks exemplary damages

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COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES

 1 in an amount to be determined by the jury and attorneys fees against said Defendants.
2 PRAYER FOR RELIEF
3 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff JANE DOE, HEIDI B., and JACOB B. pray for judgment against
4 Defendants, and each of them, as follows:
5 1. For an award of special (economic) and general (non-economic) damages according to
6 proof;
7 2. For punitive damages against Defendants BENJAMIN DUNCAN;
8 3. Attorneys fees against BENJAMIN DUNCAN and PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOL
9 DISTRICT;
10 4. For costs of suit incurred herein; and
11 5. For such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper.
12
Dated: November __, 2017 TAYLOR & RING
13

14
By:
15 David M. Ring
Sonya Ostovar
16 Attorneys for Plaintiff, JANE DOE,
HEIDI B. and JACOB B.
17

18

19 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL

20 Plaintiffs hereby demands that her action be determined by trial by jury.

21
Dated: November __, 2017 TAYLOR & RING
22

23
By:
24 David M. Ring
Sonya Ostovar
25 Attorneys for Plaintiff, JANE DOE,
HEIDI B. and JACOB B.
26

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COMPLAINT FOR PERSONAL INJURIES AND DAMAGES