CALIFORNIA
Courthouse News Service
By MIKE HEUER
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – The Archdiocese of San Francisco cannot dismiss accusations that it failed to stop students at a boys school from sharing up-skirt photos of a teacher, a federal judge ruled.
A “triable issue exists” on claims the archdiocese contributed to the civil rights violations that caused the teacher’s emotional distress, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick found on Friday.
Orrick did dismiss claims of Federal Employment and Housing Act violations against Junipero High School, but denied the archdiocese’s motion in all other respects.
“The archdiocese’s actions in response to each successive act of harassment fell short in many ways,” Orrick wrote. “The school (and the Archbishop’s office) did not appear to learn from, or respond to, each instance of harassing conduct or to prevent similar occurrences in the future.”
Biology teacher Kimberly Bohnert sued the archdiocese and Junipero Serra High School last year, claiming they did nothing for more than two years as students humiliated her with an online image they shared, sent sexually explicit social media posts, graphic graffiti and other acts.
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