SCRANTON, Pa. — A federal judge in Lackawanna County ruled it will be up to a jury to weigh the claims brought by nine men who said a former teacher abused them nearly a decade ago and that their school failed to stop him.
Judge Malachy E. Mannion’s refusal late last month to dismiss claims against the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County marked a major hurdle cleared for former students seeking damages from the school, where they said they were assaulted by convicted sex offender Richard Humphrey in 2017.
Mannion scheduled a jury trial for January on claims the CTC violated the civil and constitutional rights of the former students. A motion is pending, however, to push that date back.
The former students brought the lawsuit against the CTC and the school districts that sent them to the CTC in 2019, alleging that Humphrey groped them and that school officials failed to disclose multiple reports of child abuse. (School officials, in filings, deny they had knowledge of Humphrey’s conduct.)
Humphrey, 68, pleaded guilty in 2018 to several counts of indecent assault and was sentenced that year to 11-to-33-month behind bars. He served five months before he was released on house arrest in Luzerne County.
His parole ended in May, but he will remain a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, records show.
Roughly a year after a judge sentenced Humphrey to jail, several of his former students filed a lawsuit seeking damages from CTC and the school districts they attended.
After nearly five years of legal wrangling, Mannion’s decision seems to clear the way for a jury trial.
In a 73-page memorandum, Mannion agreed to dismiss all claims against the individual school districts and a claim the CTC retaliated against two of the students. However, the judge said the record contains “abundant evidence” that administrators knew of Humphrey’s actions months before a parent made a report on ChildLine, a clearinghouse for reports of suspected child abuse.
The judge also ruled that CTC’s policy at the time conflicted with the state law requiring teachers to report suspected abuse to ChildLine first and then to their school’s administrator.
“However, during the relevant time CTC directed its teacher to report suspected abuse only to the school building administrator,” Mannion wrote in the ruling.
The CTC contended in court that the policy achieved the same outcome because administrators reported abuse to ChildLine, the judge said.
However, the former students submitted evidence that at least three teachers, aides and an outside consultant knew of Humphrey’s abuse but did not make a report. It was only after a parent made a ChildLine report that the CTC acted, the judge said in summarizing the case.
A message left for an attorney representing the CTC was not immediately returned.
