Abused children often blamed by Palm Beach County schools

Oct. 14--Over and over, the Palm Beach County school district has defended itself in sexual abuse lawsuits by blaming the children who said they were abused.

One was 6 years old. Three were 9. One was a 7-year-old with autism.

In court documents, the district's lawyers asserted that all of those victims were partly or fully at fault, so the district should not be held financially responsible.

A review of court cases by the Sun Sentinel found:

-- The 7-year-old boy with autism claimed in 2015 that two classmates forced him into sex acts at Addison Mizner Elementary in Boca Raton. The district argued that he showed negligence because he did not report the alleged abuse to his parents, administrators or school police soon enough. The district settled the case for $185,000.

-- A seventh-grade student claimed that a teacher at Jupiter Middle gave him foot massages and touched himself inappropriately from 2010 to 2012. That student was partly responsible, the district said, for not initially reporting the teacher's behavior to his parents or authorities. The case was settled for $250,000.

-- A 14-year-old girl said she went to a bathroom at Seminole Ridge High in the Acreage in 2012 and was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old student. A lawyer for the district said evidence showed that her allegations were untrue. Still, the district settled for $250,000.

-- A 6-year-old girl alleged that a boy pulled down her pants and sexually assaulted her. The district argued that the girl "conducted herself in a careless and negligent manner" and was "old enough to appreciate the consequences of her own actions." The family dropped the suit.

The Sun Sentinel reviewed those court cases after reporting this week about another -- four girls abused by their third-grade teacher in 2005 at Coral Sunset Elementary, west of Boca Raton.

One of the girls, a 9-year-old, told her mother that teacher Blake Sinrod had fondled her during a reading group. The girl said he touched her under her clothing and instructed her to touch his private area over his clothing, according to a police report.

The three other girls -- two of them 9 and one 10 -- painted similar pictures to police.

In court documents, the district insisted that the girls were "old enough to appreciate the consequences of their actions."

The children "conducted themselves in a careless and negligent manner," the district said.

A school police investigation at the time determined that Sinrod should be charged with abusing all four girls. He pleaded guilty to abusing two of them.

Twelve years after the abuse, the School Board is expected to vote Wednesday to settle the case for $3.6 million, one of its largest settlements ever.

The defense strategy is used in many cases defended by Conroy Simberg, a Hollywood law firm that represents Palm Beach County Schools.

The tactic is known as "comparative negligence" or "contributory fault," meaning that the person filing the suit shares some portion of the blame for an incident.

Dale Friedman, an attorney with Conroy Simberg, said the purpose is to bring up factors that could reduce the amount of damages the district might have to pay -- not to claim the victims were responsible.

"We have never blamed these girls or given the appearance of holding the girls responsible for what their teacher did,' she said this week.

Joel Mintz, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, said the approach is common in a variety of negligence cases including auto accidents and slips and falls.

Under state law, it can be used on a person as young as 6.

In the case of the student with autism at Addison Mizner, the family alleged that the boy was not properly supervised on the playground. An investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Family reached the same conclusion, said Jamie Sasson, the family's lawyer.

Sasson said it was outrageous for the district to claim that a 7-year-old could be partly to blame for abuse.

"It would have backfired at trial," he said. "It shows they're not taking responsibility or, worse, they were blaming the child. At the end of the day, the jury would have seen right through it. To blame a 7-year-old is pretty ridiculous."

Sasson said he had to explain to the family that the district's claims were just a litigation tactic. "But it was upsetting to them. How could it not be?"

The district argued that the boy should have reported the incident to a responsible adult. Although he had autism, he was attending regular classes, interacting with regular students and functioning at a high level, Friedman said.

Law professor Mintz said that even if lawyers use the defense in court files, they must have good faith that they'll actually use it in front of a jury. He's not sure that would apply in the case involving Sinrod's victims.

"It's really questionable that children at that age would have responsibility to really know what to do after being molested," Mintz said. "It's at the very edge of a good faith defense."

Friedman argued that the children are now adults and still haven't sought counseling -- an indication, she said, that they may not be taking full responsibility for any emotional distress they suffered.

"We don't raise these questions unless there's merit in some aspect of the case," Friedman said.

Damages are sometimes paid anyway "for the same reason 98 percent of state and federal law cases settle: because you don't know what a jury may do," she said.

School district administrators have declined this week to discuss the Sinrod case. It is not clear who, if anyone, reviewed the court documents before they were filed.

The district's legal office reports directly to the School Board. Board members acknowledged that the cases have not been properly scrutinized. They said they were unaware that court documents suggested the four third-graders were responsible for their own abuse.

Several board members, including Frank Barbieri and Karen Brill, say they want to draft a policy that forbids the use of a defense blaming victims abused by those who work in the district.

"Parents of our students trust that their children, while in our custody, will be safe from harmful conduct," Barbieri said "The School Board must never ever attempt to justify the actions of a school district employee who violates that trust by sexually abusing a student."

stravis@sunsentinel.com, 561-243-6637 or Twitter @smtravis

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