Doe v. Citadel
Doe v. Citadel
Opinion of the Court
**142In this civil matter, John Doe 2 (Doe) appeals the circuit court's grant of summary judgment to The Citadel, arguing the court erred in dismissing his claims of negligence/gross negligence and outrage. We affirm.
FACTS/PROCEDURAL HISTORY
This case is one of many lawsuits stemming from a child sexual abuse scandal involving a summer camp at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina (The Citadel), and Louis "Skip" ReVille. On April 23, 2007, the father of a former **143camper at The Citadel's youth summer camp notified Mark Brandenburg, The Citadel's general counsel, that one of the camp's counselors had engaged in sexual misconduct at the camp with his son five years earlier. The former camper's father told Brandenburg a counselor named Skip invited his son into his dorm room, where the two watched pornography together and masturbated. Brandenburg subsequently spoke by telephone with the former *580camper, then nineteen years old, who confirmed that Skip had invited him into his room, showed him pornography, and convinced him to masturbate. After reviewing camp records, Brandenburg was able to identify the counselor as ReVille, who worked at the camp for three summers from 2001 to 2003.
On April 24, 2007, Brandenburg-along with Colonel Joseph Trez, an executive assistant to John Rosa, The Citadel's president-met with ReVille, a Citadel graduate who had also worked with college students as a part-time, temporary tutor at The Citadel's writing center from August 2006 to April 2007. During the meeting, ReVille emphatically denied the former camper's allegations. Brandenburg continued to investigate the allegations from April through July 2007, and by May 2007, had informed President Rosa of the allegations. On July 1, 2007, Brandenburg traveled to Texas to meet with the former camper and his parents. At some point during that summer, however, Brandenburg fell out of touch with the former camper. Brandenburg then contacted potential witnesses who may have been present during the commission of ReVille's alleged misconduct, but he failed to find one that could corroborate the former camper's accusations. The Citadel ended its investigation without reporting the complaint to law enforcement.
In October 2011, ReVille was arrested after confessing to abusing numerous boys while employed in various educational and athletic positions in the Charleston area over the span of nearly a decade. On June 13, 2012, ReVille pleaded guilty to numerous charges involving the abuse of twenty-three boys in Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties and was sentenced to fifty years in prison.
**144ReVille met Doe-a young male about to enter the seventh grade-and his family in the summer of 2005, through ReVille's involvement with AAU basketball at Pinewood Preparatory School (Pinewood Prep) in Summerville, South Carolina. That summer, ReVille began "grooming" Doe and later abused Doe at ReVille's residence, and he continued to abuse Doe throughout the 2005-2006 school year. At the time, ReVille was a teacher at Pinewood Prep. Doe, however, neither attended Pinewood Prep nor any summer camps or educational programs at The Citadel. In the spring of 2006, ReVille was terminated from his teaching position at Pinewood Prep and accepted Doe's parents' offer to move into the mother-in-law suite connected to their house. While living there from May 2006 to June 2007, and for a short period after moving out, ReVille continuously abused Doe. ReVille's sexual abuse of Doe ended when Doe and his family moved to Georgia in the summer of 2007.
Doe filed the instant action against The Citadel on March 19, 2012, alleging claims of negligence/gross negligence and outrage. In his complaint, Doe claimed actions taken by The Citadel created a risk that ReVille would be placed in positions to enable him to victimize young boys, and subsequently, its failure to prevent this risk allowed ReVille to sexually abuse him. Doe asserted The Citadel was in a unique position to warn or prevent ReVille from sexually abusing young victims like Doe because The Citadel knew of the reported sexual abuse and it had a special relationship with ReVille. The Citadel filed a renewed motion for summary judgment on April 24, 2015.
In its order, the circuit court dismissed Doe's negligence claims because it found The Citadel did not owe Doe a duty of care to prevent ReVille from sexually abusing Doe. Specifically, the court noted the majority of the abuse of Doe occurred before the April 2007 allegations by the former camper. Moreover, the circuit court found it was "impossible to differentiate the injury that [Doe] suffered after The Citadel arguably **145should have stopped ReVille from abusing him from the unquestionably devastating injury that *581[Doe] suffered from his longstanding, ongoing abuse by ReVille." Accordingly, the court concluded Doe's injuries arose before, and were not proximately caused by, any breach of duty by The Citadel.
The court also dismissed the outrage claim as a matter of law because it was barred by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act
STANDARD OF REVIEW
"An appellate court reviews a grant of summary judgment under the same standard applied by the [circuit] court pursuant to Rule 56, SCRCP." Lanham v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of S.C., Inc. ,
LAW/ANALYSIS
I. Negligence/Gross Negligence
Doe first argues the circuit court erred in finding The Citadel did not owe a duty to Doe. We disagree.
To prove negligence, the plaintiff must show "(1) [the] defendant owes a duty of care to the plaintiff; (2) [the] defendant breached the duty by a negligent act or omission; (3) [the] defendant's breach was the actual or proximate cause **146of the plaintiff's injury; and (4) [the] plaintiff suffered an injury or damages." Roe v. Bibby ,
South Carolina law does not recognize a general duty to warn a third party or potential victim of danger or to control the conduct of another. Rogers v. S.C. Dep't of Parole & Cmty. Corr. ,
Doe does not argue the existence of any special relationship to qualify for the special relationship exceptions. Rather, Doe asserts The Citadel is liable to Doe "for its own failure to act with due care in voluntarily undertaking the duties to investigate, arrest, and punish ReVille; for taking actions that negligently created the risk that ReVille would sexually abuse [Doe]; and for action[s] to conceal ReVille's pedophilia in violation of Title IX."
A. Voluntary Undertaking
Doe first asserts The Citadel established a duty of care to Doe when it voluntarily *582undertook the duty to investigate claims of sexual abuse on its campus, turn offenders over to its **147own law enforcement entity, and arrest offenders. We disagree.
Under South Carolina law, the Restatement of Torts establishes the recognition of a voluntarily assumed duty and states,
One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of the other's person or things, is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking, if
(a) his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of such harm, or
(b) the harm is suffered because of the other's reliance upon the undertaking.
Johnson v. Robert E. Lee Acad., Inc. ,
In the instant case, The Citadel's general counsel, Brandenburg, conducted an investigation into the former camper's allegations of sexual abuse by ReVille after the former camper's father called The Citadel on April 23, 2007. Under section 323 of the Restatement of Torts, however, this undertaking cannot create a duty unless (1) Brandenburg's failure to exercise reasonable care actually increased the risk of harm to Doe or (2) Doe suffered harm because he relied upon Brandenburg's undertaking. See
Upon our review of the record, we find no evidence supports a showing that Brandenburg's actions increased the risk of harm to Doe. In fact, the record demonstrates that ReVille was already abusing Doe-for nearly two years-when the April 23, 2007 allegations were made. Thus, any failure of The Citadel to exercise due care in its investigation regarding a former camper could not have reasonably increased the risk of harm to Doe when the harm was already occurring. Moreover, the record indicates Brandenburg conducted his investigation as the college's general counsel to "find out what happened" and determine possible avenues for settlement for the protection of The Citadel. It was not conducted as part of a criminal investigation. See **148Goode v. St. Stephens United Methodist Church ,
Nevertheless, Doe claims the evidence presented at summary judgment
We disagree with Doe's contention that The Citadel's deviations from its own policies and procedures, both prior to and following the April 23, 2007 allegations, demonstrate a lack of due care and create a triable issue as to whether The Citadel voluntarily assumed a duty to investigate and arrest ReVille for *583sexual abuse of children. Indeed, we find the internal policies created by The Citadel do not establish a voluntary undertaking of a duty; rather, they can only serve as evidence of the standard of care if the duty was established by law. See Doe ex rel. Doe v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ,
B. Negligent Creation of the Risk
Doe next asserts The Citadel is liable for negligently creating the risk that ReVille would sexually abuse Doe. We disagree.
In Edwards v. Lexington County Sheriff's Department , our supreme court imposed a duty of care on a county and its sheriff's department because it found the entities created a risk of injury to the appellant.
In the instant case, Doe argues The Citadel's duty to Doe is based upon "The Citadel's own affirmative actions that created the circumstances for ReVille to sexually abuse [Doe]," and The Citadel should have foreseen its negligent actions "would probably cause injury to someone in the form of sexual abuse by ReVille." Doe again cites evidence of The Citadel's policy violations and alleged concealment of ReVille's actions. However, we again find any purported violation of the policy does not amount to the existence of a duty, but rather, focuses more on the standards of due care establishing the extent and nature of the duty, which would help a fact-finder determine whether a duty was breached. See Madison ex rel. Bryant v. Babcock Ctr., Inc. ,
Furthermore, the evidence does not demonstrate The Citadel was aware of ReVille's pedophilia prior to the April 2007 allegations, despite Doe's claims to the contrary. The record does not support Doe's assertions that The Citadel knew of ReVille's sexual misconduct while he was a counselor at the camp. In particular, Doe asserts The Citadel should have investigated and arrested ReVille when Garrott found ReVille alone in his room with a camper in 2002, and again in 2003 when she discovered him in his room rubbing "Icy Hot" on a junior counselor's leg following a run. However, the record does not indicate that any improper behavior was occurring at **151the time when Garrott "caught" ReVille to warrant termination or an investigation. Garrott stated, at the time, she did not think either incident amounted to a violation of the camp policies. Instead, she viewed the incidents as "lapse[s] in judgment." Doe's arguments again "confuse the existence of a duty with standards of care establishing the extent and nature of the duty in a particular case." Madison ex rel. Bryant ,
In conclusion, while ReVille's continued sexual abuse of Doe was beyond despicable, we find that, as it relates to any failure to respond after the April 2007 allegations, The Citadel's purported failure to intervene did not create a risk of harm to Doe when Doe was already exposed to ReVille's abuse. See, e.g. , DeShaney v. Winnebago Cty. Dep't of Soc. Servs. ,
C. Title IX
Doe next argues the federal statute, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, imposed a duty on The Citadel not to conceal ReVille's sexual abuse following the April 2007 allegations.
**152A plaintiff will prove the first element of a negligence claim-that the defendant owes him a statutorily-created duty of care-if the plaintiff shows two things: "(1) that the essential purpose of the statute is to protect from the kind of harm the plaintiff has suffered; and (2) that he is a member of the class of persons the statute is intended to protect." Rayfield v. S.C. Dep't of Corr. ,
We find Doe's claim fails because he is not a member of the class of persons the statute intends to protect. Title IX intends to protect participants and students of educational programs. See, e.g. , Dipippa v. Union Sch. Dist. ,
Last, Doe asserts the circuit court erred in granting summary judgment to The Citadel on Doe's outrage claim because more than a scintilla of evidence exists to establish that The Citadel's conduct was outrageous and directed at Doe. We disagree.
Under South Carolina law, outrage claims are limited to a defendant's egregious conduct toward a plaintiff. Upchurch v. N.Y. Times Co. ,
In the instant case, while The Citadel's failure to notify law enforcement of ReVille's alleged abuse in 2007 is highly lamentable, Doe did not present any evidence that The Citadel directed any tortious conduct specifically toward him. Indeed, The Citadel was unaware of Doe's very existence prior to the commencement of this lawsuit. Accordingly, we uphold the circuit court's finding on this issue.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing analysis, the circuit court's grant of summary judgment to The Citadel is
AFFIRMED.
KONDUROS, J., and LEE, A.J., concur.
Neither the former camper nor his family reported the incident to law enforcement officials during this time.
The Citadel initially filed a motion for summary judgment in this and related cases on March 6, 2014. On December 9, 2014, the circuit court denied The Citadel's motion.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972,
While Doe states facts in support of his argument, we note that some of the facts cited are not supported by evidence in the record. In particular, Doe asserts The Citadel was aware of ReVille's pedophilia as early as 1998, when he received services from the campus counseling center. Moreover, Doe asserts that one of ReVille's victims (Camper Doe 6), a former camper and counselor, was fired by Jennifer Garrott, the camp's deputy director, when he attempted to report ReVille's abuse to her in 2005. Because these facts do not appear in the record, we do not consider them. See Rule 210(h), SCACR ("[T]he appellate court will not consider any fact which does not appear in the Record on Appeal.").
The Citadel implemented new policies in 2001 for the supervision of its camp and counselors after it learned of the sexual abuse of campers by a former senior counselor.
We do not find it necessary to address any of Doe's arguments that The Citadel's alleged violations of Title IX demonstrate its failure to act with due care because, as previously mentioned, these arguments involve the standards of due care, which presuppose the existence of a duty. See Edwards,
We do not address Doe's essential purpose requirement argument because we find the resolution of this issue is dispositive. See Futch v. McAllister Towing of Georgetown, Inc.,
Because our resolution of this issue is dispositive, we decline to address whether the circuit court erred in finding the TCA barred Doe's outrage claim. See Futch,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- John DOE 2 v. The CITADEL
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published