Wed, 03/02/2022 - 12:00pm

Sarah Shepherd

File photo

PORTLAND – A Federal judge has granted a motion to delay the trial date to early May in a lawsuit filed in December 2019 in U.S. District Court by a former Medomak Valley School student, who alleges that she was sexually harassed by the former principal.

The suit names the school district that includes Medomak Valley High School, former principal Andrew Cavanaugh, and social worker Chuck Nguyen as defendants.

In December 2021, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock, Jr. set the trial date of April 4 for all of the parties named in the lawsuit.

But on Feb. 23, Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III agreed that all parties must be ready for trial by May 2 after the attorney for Nguyen, Attorney John Wall III, of Portland, filed a motion Feb. 14 to extend the completion of depositions for an additional three weeks, after a scheduled deposition held on Feb. 11 ended before the questioning was completed.

The deposition for the woman began at 10 a.m. February 11, and at some point after 4 p.m., the court reporter notified the parties that she was not aware that the deposition would continue beyond 5 p.m. and she indicated that she had family obligations that might require her to stop before questioning was completed, according to the motion filed in court.

Questioning among the defendants and the woman continued to about 6:07 p.m., at which time the court reporter indicated she could not continue.

“Nguyen is not seeking to initiate any further discovery through the motion to amend the scheduling order – he is attempting to complete discovery that had been noticed since January 18, 2022, and that was commenced prior to the discovery deadline,” according to the motion.” “Moreover, Defendant Nguyen had no way to know that the plaintiff’s deposition would not be completed on February 11. And it is obvious that Defendant Nguyen would not make an agreement that would deprive him of an opportunity to examine the Plaintiff concerning her allegations against him.”

“The Plaintiff’s suggestion that Defendant Nguyen’s request violates an agreement between the parties is erroneous,” the motion states.

After a hearing held on Feb. 22, the Judge ruled the following day that Nguyen’s request to finish questioning the woman was reasonable and the trial was placed on the schedule for May, according to the court document.

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

He had been principal at the high school since 2015.

According to the lawsuit, as a result of Cavanaugh’s actions, the woman suffered severe emotional distress including social anxiety and other disorders.

The suit also states that the school district was negligent in their hiring, training and/or supervision of Cavanaugh and Nguyen and that the negligence was the proximate cause of the woman’s injuries. Additionally, the district had a duty, the suit said, to train and educate their employees about its sexual harassment policy and not crossing inappropriate boundaries with students and it recklessly and negligently failed to implement and enforce these policies.

The attorney for Cavanaugh said his client denies the allegations in the lawsuit and the “defendant acted objectively reasonably under the circumstances and, thus, is qualifiedly immune from liability.”

Nguyen has also denied the allegations.

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

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