Doe v. Rankin County School District
Annotate this CaseJohn Doe initiated this action on behalf of his daughter, Jane Doe, after she was sexually assaulted on a Rankin County School District (RCSD) school bus, parked on the campus of Richland High School (RHS). After nineteen months of discovery, the circuit court granted RCSD’s motion for summary judgment against Doe based on governmental immunity under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act (MTCA). Doe moved for reconsideration, arguing RCSD had waived immunity through active participation in the litigation. The circuit court denied the motion. The Court of Appeals (COA) reversed the circuit court’s ruling. Applying the then-applicable, two-part, public-function test, the COA found that RCSD was entitled to discretionary-function immunity because: (1) RCSD’s duty to oversee student conduct and school safety involved an element of choice and/or judgment and (2) RCSD’s actions regarding implementation of school-safety measures and student discipline involved social and economic policy considerations. The COA, however, found that RCSD had waived immunity in this instance by actively participating in the litigation process and unreasonably delaying pursuit of its immunity defense for sixteen months. The Mississippi Supreme Court granted RCSD’s request certiorari review. Based on its recent decision in “Brantley v. City of Horn Lake,” (152 So.3d 1106 (Miss. 2014)), which established a new test for determining the application of discretionary-function immunity, the Supreme Court reversed both the COA’s and the trial court’s decisions and remanded to the trial court for the parties to present evidence in light of the new standard.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.