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School board dropped from Sanford lawsuit
By Lynn Hotaling
A lawsuit filed in February against local school officials was dismissed last month.
Superior Court Judge Marlene Hyatt May 14 dismissed a complaint Julia Townsend of Sylva filed Feb. 4 against the Jackson County Board of Education members James Roper, Ali Laird-Large, Nathan Moss, Ken Henke and Mary Jane Dillard collectively and individually. Townsend filed the suit as guardian ad litem for a minor female.
According to papers on file in the Jackson County Clerk of Court’s Office, Hyatt ruled favorably on attorney Deborah Stagner’s motion remove the Board of Education members as defendants in Townsend’s suit, which also named former Smoky Mountain High School band director Mike Sanford.
The suit continues against Sanford, who received a suspended sentence in July 2003. The former music teacher was placed on probation for five years, fined $500 and costs, and required to pay $1,025 in restitution to the then-15-year-old victim for counseling she had received up to that point.
Sanford was also made financially responsible for additional treatment the victim might require. In addition, Sanford was ordered to surrender his teaching license and register as a sex offender.
Sanford pleaded no contest April 21, 2003, to charges of taking indecent liberties with a student, who was a sophomore band member at the time of the December 2002 incident that led to the charges.
Townsend’s lawsuit seeks punitive damages and compensatory damages from Sanford, who is alleged in the lawsuit as “abusing his position of authority and trust as the school band director.
Townsend’s suit initially sought damages from the former band director, who has been arrested and sentenced for the actions Townsend’s lawsuit seeks to address, and from the boards of education of Jackson and Swain counties.
Judge Hyatt agreed with Stagner’s contention that the school board members are immune from liability when sued in their official capacity.
That governmental immunity doctrine, which was established by case law more than 100 years ago in the N.C. Supreme Court, protects a governmental entity and its officers and employees who are sued in their official capacity from incurring liability, said attorney David Steinbicker, director of personnel services for Jackson County Schools.
Judge Hyatt also ruled that individual board members Roper, Laird-Large, Moss, Henke and Dillard are entitled to “public officer immunity” and are not individually liable in such actions.
Finally, Judge Hyatt determined that Townsend’s complaint does not allege any individual act or omission by school board members.
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