Q: If a situation like the one (alleged) at Penn State occurred in Texas, would a coach and school who covered up child abuse be liable under Texas law for protecting a child molester?
- JM
A: Texas civil law shields “silent accomplices” to child abuse.
Child abuse is a crime of opportunity. Child sexual predators seek situations where they are trusted, and they thrive when others turn a blind eye.
The details of the Penn State investigation are on the ESPN website. The story is a twisted tale of people in authority looking the other way as children were abused. How many victims would have been spared a life of torment had someone put a stop to what they must have known was happening? When a person in a position to stop abuse fails to act, he or she becomes a silent accomplice to the abuse.
Texas law imposes a duty to report child abuse if any person has “cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely affected by abuse or neglect.” That report must be made to law enforcement, to Child Protective Services, or to “the state agency that operates, licenses, certifies, or registers the facility in which the alleged abuse or neglect occurred.” Proper reporting leads to prosecution, which stops the abuse.
However, if this tragedy happened in Texas, and a victim sued a school and its personnel for failing to protect a child from being raped, the school may escape any responsibility because of a law passed in the 2003 round of tort reform sponsored by Governor Rick Perry.
If sued by the abused child, the school would designate the rapist as a “Responsible Third Party.” When the case went to trial, the jury would be required to assign a percentage of blame to the school and the rapist. The school would be exonerated from any responsibility for the percentage of blame assigned to the rapist. If the jury placed 90% of the blame on the rapist, the school would pay only 10% of the child’s damages. In other words, the school would get a slap on the wrist. If the rapist had no money (and most criminal defendants spend all their money on legal fees), the child would get virtually nothing.
It may sound fair to hold the rapist responsible for the harm he caused, but in a civil claim, how will a school ever be held accountable for enabling and facilitating the rape of a child if it can hide behind the rapist? This terrible “Responsible Third Party” law was part of Governor Perry’s 2003 “tort reform” legislative agenda, and it is bad law. It also allows parking lot and apartment complex owners to ignore rampant violence. They can even designate unknown attackers as “John Doe Responsible Third Parties.”
Other laws protect public schools and universities from liability, and those could keep a child from winning a lawsuit. But Rick Perry’s Responsible Third Party law shields all silent accomplices to child abuse. Why are our laws protecting those who cover up child abuse?
This is a question for your lawmakers!
