Doe, et al. v. Covington County Sch. Dist., et al., No. 09-60406 (5th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs sued, inter alia, the Covington County School District, its Board of Education, its president, and other persons, in their official and individual capacities (collectively, Education Defendants), as well as other known and unknown persons, under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and 1985, alleging violations of Jane Doe's Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights and various state law violations where the Education Defendants were deliberately indifferent to nine-year-old Jane's safety when they forced her into the sole custody of an unauthorized adult who took her off of the school's grounds. At issue was what were the circumstances under which a compulsory-attendance, elementary public school had a "special relationship" with its nine-year-old students such that it had a constitutional "duty to protect" their personal security. The court held that plaintiffs have pleaded a facially plausible claim that the school violated Jane's substantive due process rights by virtue of its special relationship with her and its deliberate indifference to known threats to her safety. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court's grant of the Education Defendants' Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion, affirmed that court's qualified immunity dismissal of plaintiffs' special relationship claims against those Education Defendants sued in their individual capacities, and remanded to the district court for further proceedings.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on September 28, 2011.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on March 23, 2012.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on April 13, 2012.
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.