Doe

INTRODUCTION

When Jane Doe was 13 years old, 26-year-old Jason Farr, an employee of Lawndale Elementary School District and a music instructor at Doe’s school, sexually assaulted her. Doe sued the District for negligence and for breach of the mandatory duty to report suspected abuse under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Pen. Code, § 11164 et seq.) (CANRA). The trial court granted the District’s motion for summary judgment, ruling the District did not have a duty to protect Doe from sexual abuse unless it knew Farr had previously engaged in sexual misconduct with minors or had a propensity to do so. The court also ruled that, because Farr’s conduct was “ambiguous,” it did not give rise to a duty of care and that there were no triable issues of material fact regarding whether the District knew about Farr’s misconduct. Finally, the court ruled Doe could not prevail on her cause of action for violation of CANRA because none of the District’s employees knew or reasonably suspected Farr had abused her. We conclude, consistent with California negligence law, that school administrators have a duty to protect students from sexual abuse by school employees, even if the school…