Sexual abuse case against high school reinstated

A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a lawsuit filed against a Connecticut private high school by a student who charged she was sexually abused by a teacher.

In granting summary judgment in favor of the Middlebury, Connecticut-based Westover School Inc., the U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut had discounted testimony by another teacher, who said he had suspected a colleague had abused the student, because he had made statements that were not “wholly reconcilable.”

But in overturning the ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York held that despite this, the teacher’s testimony that he had suspected the student was abused, based on another student’s concern and his own observations, “is enough to defeat summary judgment.”

Antonio Ponvert III, an attorney with Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder P.C. in Bridgeport, Connecticut, who represented the plaintiff, said in a statement, “My client now has the right to tell her story to the jury and finally obtain the justice she deserves. We look forward to the trial.”

The school’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.