PORTLAND — Two of the defendants named in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in 2019 by a former Medomak Valley High School student will soon be heading to trial.  

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 lawsuit named MSAD 40/RSU 40, Medomak Valley High School, Cavanaugh and former social worker Chuck Nguyen as the defendants.

U.S. District Court Judge John A. Woodcock set a trial date of June 5 after he ruled March 30 that three counts in a lawsuit filed against Cavanaugh and Nguyen can move forward.

Those are three state law tort claims against the two defendants concerning intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligence.

The third defendant, MSAD 40/RSU 40, was granted a summary judgement on two of the five counts in the lawsuit and will not go to trial, Judge Woodcock ruled March 20. 

The court ruling on behalf of the school district grants summary judgment on the Title IX claim, a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity.

“There are no genuine issues of material fact that could sustain the plaintiff’s contention that an official with the authority to implement corrective measures had actual knowledge of the alleged harassment and acted with deliberate indifference toward her,” the federal judge said in the ruling. 

The court granted summary judgment on the civil rights claim that the action resulted in the deprivation of a constitutional right or federal statutory right.

“The record similarly does not support her claim that any school district policy or failure to train caused her injuries,” he wrote. 

The woman agreed to dismiss the state tort claims because the school district is immune from liability under the Maine Tort Claims Act. The Maine Tort Claims Act provides "governmental entities" and government employees immunity from personal injury lawsuits that seek recovery of damages.

The federal judge also ruled to award summary judgements to Cavanaugh and Nguyen for the complaint’s constitutional and federal claims because the standards had not been met.

The allegations in the lawsuit included that Cavanaugh began to pay special attention to the former student when she was 16 and made sexually based comments to her about her looks and clothing in front of other students and staff members at the high school and purchased personal hygiene items and gave them to her, again in front of other students and staff.

The woman said that Cavanaugh began texting her on a frequent basis and between April 2017 and November 2017 there were approximately 5,000 text messages sent by the defendant. The comments were mainly sexually explicit and inappropriate and were sent at all hours of the day, including during school hours, and as late as 2 a.m., according to the lawsuit.

“A reasonable fact finder could conclude that Mr. Cavanaugh’s harassing behavior was intentional misconduct — sending an underage girl sexually explicit text messages despite knowing it was wrong. However, the fact finder could, alternatively, reasonably credit Mr. Cavanaugh’s assertions that he truly had [her] best interests at heart and the distress he inflicted through his text messages and other actions was primarily accidental or otherwise negligent,” the federal judge said in his March 30 ruling.

Nguyen is accused of defending Cavanaugh’s actions and advising the woman that she was wrong for thinking there was something inappropriate about the way Cavanaugh was acting towards her, and instead encouraged her to continue the relationship by stating that Cavanaugh was trying to be ‘nice’ and a ‘father figure’ to her.

Both Cavanaugh and Nguyen have denied the allegations.

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

The attorneys for Nguyen have said they want the dismissal of the amended complaint because he cannot be held liable for the plaintiff’s claims as a matter of law.

On May 1, an appeal was filed on behalf of Nguyen stating that he is entitled to immunity under the Maine Tort Claims Act for the three claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and negligence denied by the judge in the March 30 ruling. 

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.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com