Judge Gonzalo Curiel Dismisses Title IX Action Against Local School District

On May 25, 2016, Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California, granted summary judgment on behalf of the Brawley Elementary School District, as to claims brought by a student that she was subjected to a pattern of systemic and pervasive peer-on-peer sexual harassment and retaliation. In the case of Sanchez v. Brawley Elementary Sch. Dist., Case No. 14-CV-0564-GPC (PLC), plaintiff alleged that she was subjected to various taunting “games,” in which students were allegedly encouraged to inappropriately grab one another. Claiming that she engaged in a “protected activity” of self-defense in response to the taunting and was thereafter wrongfully suspended for one day, plaintiff alleged that the school district condoned peer-on-peer sexual harassment and failed to take any remedial action. Finding no evidence of a pattern of “systemic” harassment at the school district in keeping with the applicable legal standard under Title IX, Judge Curiel granted summary judgment, dismissing the action in its entirety.  The case was handled by Martin L. Carpenter, Evelina Gentry, and Justin Reade Sarno.