District Sued by Molested Student / Girl says Cupertino school ... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/03/02/M...

Print This Article Back advertisement | your ad here

to Article

District Sued by Molested Student

Girl says Cupertino school didn't protect
her
Lisa Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 2, 1999

(03-02) 04:00 PDT CUPERTINO -- A

16-year-old Sunnyvale girl has filed a lawsuit
against her school district, alleging that officials
knew her algebra teacher had a history of
molesting young girls but did nothing to report
or stop him.

The Fremont Union High School District's lawyer, Mark Davis of San Jose, ``emphatically'' denied
the allegations yesterday, arguing that the district did not know about the love letters and fondling
between the girl and Jeff Lamson, a former Homestead High School teacher and football coach.

Lamson, 34, was sentenced in January to nearly 3 1/2 years in state prison for 12 felony sexual
offenses, including molesting at least two teenage girls who attended the Cupertino school from
1991 to 1997. One of the victims, who spoke about her mental anguish at the criminal sentencing,
filed the civil case in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

From September 1996 to December 1997, Lamson gave the girl, then 14, passing grades when she
was flunking algebra, wrote her letters, paged her repeatedly, phoned her at home, drove her
places, kissed her, touched her legs and fondled her breasts, according to the suit.

``This guy had a pattern,'' said Mary Pat Hough, a labor employment lawyer who has teamed up
with civil molestation attorney Justine Durrell, both of San Francisco, to fight this case.

``Actual reports were made (to the principal) by other teachers and parents about Jeff Lamson,''
she said. ``The school had a duty to report (Lamson's) behavior to Child Protective Services,
conduct an investigation to see if there was merit to the rumors, or fire or supervise him.''

Instead, school leaders acted with ``deliberate indifference,'' according to the suit.

But Davis said the school district and former Homestead High Principal David Payne had no
concrete knowledge of Lamson's relationship with the girl until her mother found a romantic note
in her daughter's bag sometime in June 1997.

1 of 2 5/19/10 10:44 PM
District Sued by Molested Student / Girl says Cupertino school ... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/03/02/M...

``With respect to this particular plaintiff, nobody knew,'' Davis said.

Davis added that there were only rumors swirling around Lamson's sexual affair with a second
teenage girl in 1990 and 1991 until Lamson was arrested in August 1997.

``You can't just sue because you think you knew someone did something years ago,'' Davis said.

The civil suit originally was filed in August, but the girl's lawyers made some changes to the
document, beefing up accusations that the school district had specific information about Lamson's
affairs, and refiled it last week.

The suit claims the defendants -- the district, the high school, the principal and Lamson -- violated
the girl's constitutional right to receive an education free of discrimination. The lawsuit asks for an
unspecified amount of damages as a result of the girl's emotional distress and also to pay her
attorneys' fees.

The school district was set today to argue that the girl's lawsuit is invalid, but since the suit was
amended, the hearing likely will be rescheduled in a month or two.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1999/03/02/MN19062.DTL

This article appeared on page A - 13 of the San Francisco Chronicle

© 1999 Hearst Communications Inc. | Privacy Policy | Feedback | RSS Feeds | FAQ | Site Index | Contact

2 of 2 5/19/10 10:44 PM