UPDATE (JUNE 3): A video settlement conference is scheduled for July 7 to see if the parties involved in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland in 2019 can reach a consensus without going to trial.

A previously scheduled trial date of June 2 had been rescheduled to Sept. 8 for a suit filed by a former Medomak Valley High School student against Regional School Unit 40, a former principal and a former social worker.

In many jurisdictions, a settlement conference is required before any case can go to trial. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the parties must begin preparing for trial, although the judge may recommend a second settlement conference at a later date when more information is available, according to the Law Directory, an online law information service.

If no settlement is reached, the trial is to take place in the U.S. District Court in Portland with Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. presiding. Jury selection would take place on Sept. 2 and the estimated length of the trial is six days, according to the court document filed in U.S. District Court.

Should a settlement agreement be reached, the attorneys will prepare a memorandum that specifies the terms of the settlement. This formal settlement agreement will be signed by all parties and the lawsuit will be dismissed.

Previous trial dates for the lawsuit were scheduled in June 2023, May 2022, and a refusal by the judge to dismissed the case was filed in October 2020. The Sept. 8 trial date was scheduled by Judge John A.Woodcock Jr, after several months of motions and summary judgments filed by both sides followed by appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.

PORTLAND – A trial date of June 2 has been pushed ahead until September for a sexual harassment lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in 2019 by a former Medomak Valley High School student against Regional School Unit 40, a former principal and a former social worker.

The trial is to take place in the U.S. District Court in Portland with Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. presiding. 

The former student alleged in the lawsuit filed in December 2019 that during her junior and senior years she was subjected to daily sexual harassment and discrimination by former principal Andrew Cavanaugh. 

The judge scheduled the trial date after several months of motions and summary judgments filed by both sides followed by appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston.

All of the parties heading to trial June 2 filed pretrial memorandums with the state by May 1 summarizing the evidence that will be offered in each case, according to the court documents.

The only claim against RSU 40 remaining after appeals alleges a violation of Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.

The attorneys for Cavanaugh intend to present evidence to show that the woman did not experience distress while communicating with him or as a result of their communications as they were occurring. The defense will claim that Cavanaugh never physically touched the former student inappropriately or sexually in any way.

They further contend that Cavanaugh has never been criminally charged with a crime prior to this suit nor was he charged with any crime related to his interactions or communications with the woman, who has admitted that he had never asked for inappropriate photos, never made any such advances towards her, and complaints of any wrong doing were not shared with the school.

The attorneys for the defense will also offer evidence that the former student completed her junior and senior years of high school with great success, according to the pretrial memorandum.

The attorneys for the woman will contend that over the course of two school years, Cavanaugh subjected her, a minor at the time, to a blatant and repeated pattern of sexual harassment and grooming. The alleged harassment included but was not limited to gender-based pet names used on a near daily basis while on school property, requests for pictures, requests to move into his home, demands that she get birth control against her parents’ wishes, pulling her from classes despite teacher complaints, repeated comments about the woman's looks and clothing in front of other students and school personnel, and thousands of text messages, many of a sexual and inappropriate nature.

School officials, including the school social worker, school resource officer, and assistant principals knew about many of these abuses, and turned a blind eye, said the attorneys for the victim in a pretrial memorandum filed on May 1 in U.S. District Court.

The attorneys claim in the memorandum that as a result of the defendants’ conduct, the former student sustained damages, which include but are not limited to, emotional distress, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and persistent depressive disorder, fatigue, hives, and physical discomfort.

The attorneys are to also introduce evidence that the woman’s treatment by the defendants has caused her to incur additional costs relating to law school. The victim said that she needed an extra year to finish law school as a result of her abuse at the hands of Cavanaugh and incurred an additional annual tuition cost of $38,792 and lost income opportunities. 

The attorneys for former social worker Chuck Nguyen filed a pretrial memorandum May 1 in U.S. District Court. In the lawsuit, the woman's complaint alleges that Nguyen failed to act upon the inappropriate behavior by Cavanaugh.

Nguyen stated he believes the evidence will show that his actions involved the type of conduct he was hired to perform, occurred within the time and space of the employment, and were undertaken, in whole or in part, to serve RSU 40. In the memorandum, Nguyen's attorneys say that the woman's claims against him are based on his alleged knowledge of, and reaction to, certain discrete events and he has denied knowledge of most of those events.   

Nguyen's attorneys claim that since there is no evidence he took actions in bad faith and his alleged conduct did not cause the woman to experience emotional distress that is so severe that no reasonable person could be expected to endure it, he is protected by immunity. 

The attorneys for former principal Andrew Cavanaugh are Douglas I. Louison, Joseph A. Padosky and Devin Rae McDonough of Douglas I. Louison, of Louison, Costello, Condon and Pfaff, LLP in Boston, Mass.

The woman is represented by attorneys Rachel Deschuytner Okun, of Portland and Eric LeBlanc, of Cambridge, Mass.

The attorneys for Regional School Unit 40 are Melissa A. Hewey and Sara P. Cressey, of Drummond Woodsum and MacMahon in Portland.

The law firm of Monaghan Leahy, in Portland, is representing Chuck Nguyen.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com